Official headshot of Indiana state Sen. Gary Byrne (R-Byrneville) (Source: Indiana Statehosue)

During a committee hearing on a bill regulating sexuality instruction in Indiana’s K-12 schools, state Sen. Gary Byrne (R-Byrneville) made a last-minute change that eliminates a requirement for schools to teach about consent in sexual activity.

Byrne made the change during a special committee meeting on Monday on Senate Bill 442, where Democrats in the room proceeded to grill him on the abrupt unnecessary change. Byrne, who does not have a background in human sexuality, admitted that he did not discuss the change with members of the community or experts, nor did anyone come to him to ask him to do it.

“Nobody came to me. This is a decision that I made to not have it in there,” Byrne responded when asked who asked for the change.

IndyStar reported on Monday that Byrne’s original bill did not have the requirement to teach consent; Rep. Tonya Pfaff (D-Terre Haute) convinced the House to add the language into the bill via amendment on a voice vote.

Byrne also contended that local school boards would still be able to choose whether consent is part of their curriculum, saying there “may be different thoughts in different communities.” However, he was unable to name where exactly citizens have concerns about requiring teachings about consent, which Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) found to be insulting the whole state.

When Pfaff tried to tell Byrne that teaching consent is about “protecting our youth,” the Republican shut down the argument by repeating the claim that they committee did not have time to debate the amendment.

The amendment made it into the conference committee report at Byrne’s insistence, but it will need to be approved by the Indiana Senate and House of Representatives before a final vote on the bill is held in both chambers.

EDITOR’S NOTE (4/23): A previous version of this story did not clarify that Byrne removed the requirement to teach consent in a bill. There is currently no requirement in Indiana K-12 schools to teach consent in sexual education.