Sex Education Programs Subject Latin American Youth to Wholesale Immorality

Sex Education Programs Subject Latin American Youth to Wholesale Immorality

by Magaly Llaguno

For the last 20 years, public schools in the United States have been implementing the sex education programs of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), this country's affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). No other organization does more to promote abortion and contraception throughout the entire world than IPPF. This is why its school programs teach a brand of sex education which includes specific instructions on the use of contraceptives and the condom.[1]

Aside from their grave moral problems, the sex education programs of the PPFA have not even successfully achieved their stated goals of reducing the rate of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents. In the last two decades, the United States has seen an unprecedented increase in illegitimate pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS among adolescents. This monumental failure by the PPFA is a direct result of its sex education programs, which are devoid of moral values and usurp parental authority.

For this reason this type of "sexual conditioning" incites the youth to promiscuity, with the results already mentioned.[2] , the affiliate of IPPF in Puerto Rico, has among its fundamental goals to "work with the Puerto Rican government to ... promote sex education in the public schools."[3] receives 11 percent of its funds from IPPF. The rest is obtained through local fundraising events, including the sale of contraceptives sponsored by the local government, as well as in the legislature, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Health Department.[4]

Choosing a 'sexually active lifestyle' has more or less the same objectives of PPFA and IPPF. The executive director of , Idalia Colon Rondon, justifies teaching amoral sex education to Puerto Rican children by saying: "The majority of parents in Puerto Rico are not equipped to speak to their children about sexuality."[5] This is the typical excuse used by the PPFA and its affiliates in order to trample the rights of parents in this very delicate area. According to IPPF, "the youth have the majority of the same rights that other clients have in the area of health and sexuality: the right to choose whether to have a sexually active lifestyle or not; to information; to contraception; to safe abortion."[6]

In the pamphlet, "Who do I ask?" published in 1987, advises the following to a teenager who has impregnated his girlfriend: "It is nobody's fault. The responsibility for your girlfriend's pregnancy is as much yours as hers. In order to avoid casting blame it is important to be aware of the consequences of an unplanned sexual relationship, and in this manner avoid premature sexual relations without knowing what methods exist for avoiding pregnancy."

In this pamphlet, doesn't tell teenagers a single word about marriage or about the immorality of premarital sex. Its only theme is to "avoid" sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies through the use of contraceptives and abortifacients, which it promotes and distributes. This is the same philosophy of PPFA and IPPF.

In another of its pamphlets, titled "For Teens Only," explicitly describes masturbation and promotes it, saying that "it should not be a cause for concern, [as] it does not produce physical or mental harm; instead, it is a release of sexual energy, both physical and psychological, in both sexes." This should not be surprising, since another publication by IPPF expresses the opinion that "mutual masturbation" is paramount to "safe sex," and that "it is necessary that the youth receive instruction regarding these types of activities."[7]

Counseling kids by phone The seven TV stations in Puerto Rico transmit free 30-second advertisements for . In these announcements, the public is informed about telephone information line, which even minors can call and obtain "counseling" and information regarding contraceptives, sterilization and condoms.[8] According to , 22 percent of the calls made to this line are from boys and girls from 13 to 15 years of age.[9] How many young girls have they referred for abortion?

TAPS (-Workshop of Alternatives for the Prevention of AIDS), is a project of the CDC which also collaborates with There was a 12-week "training program" organized in May of 1990 in Bayamon (perhaps one of many), during which one of the activities was "the search for condoms." Teens of both sexes between 15 and 17 years old were asked to try to obtain them and to report whether or not they were successful. The youth "signed a contract" for which parental authorization was not requested.

Some parents, upon discovering this, complained about the explicit presentations on sexuality, but they were told that it was necessary to "protect" the youth from AIDS.[10] Why don't they inform the public about how the condom can have a failure rate of up to 30 percent of cases in preventing AIDS? The virus is 450 times smaller than sperm and 50 times smaller than the microscopic pores that experts have found in the latex material of which the condoms considered the most "effective" are manufactured.[11]

is not the solution to the crisis of pregnancies, abortions or sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents in Puerto Rico. It is part of the problem. does not deserve the patronage of the government of Puerto Rico, nor do the people need its "services."

What is needed is to teach the Puerto Rican youth, as well as those of other countries, the values of sexuality and why and how to say NO to premarital sexual relations. The campaign "True Love Waits," which promotes sexual abstinence, is having much success among U.S. youth. In only two cities, more than 300,000 young people have signed a contract promising to remain chaste.12 I urge those who work with young people to initiate this and other efforts.

Magaly Llaguno is the director of HLI's Miami office and oversees its work in Latin America.

ENDNOTES

1 George Grant, (Brentwood, Tennessee: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1988),23, 115-117.

2 Ibid.

3 IPPF, Supplement to the 1990 IPPF/RHO Annual Report.

4 Ibid; William Santiago, "Profamilia Promotes 'Basic Human Right'," (October 1994): 26.

5 "Hot Line to Avert Teen Pregnancy," IPPF/WHR (July 1990): 7.

6 IPPF, "Understanding Adolescents," London: IPPF, 1994, 6.

7 Ibid., 27.

8 "Hot Line to Avert...," 7; Pamphlet: "The Condom", Project TAPS, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

9 "Hot Line to Avert...," 7.

10 Population Communication International, International Date Line, November, 1991; pamphlet: "The Condom", Project TAPS.

11 Brochure: "," (Condoms and the anti- AIDS campaigns), (Miami: / Human Life International, 1993), 3.

12 Jimmy Hester, "True Love Waits," Living With Teenagers (October

1994): 11-12.

Taken from the January 1996 issue of "HLI Reports."

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Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN

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