Planned Parenthood and children's sexual rights (OneNewsNow.com)

Planned Parenthood and children's sexual rights

Marcia Segelstein - OneNewsNow Columnist - 2/23/2010 9:35:00 AM

The International Planned Parenthood Federation is the umbrella organization for 180 Planned Parenthood organizations around the world. It recently released a report called "Stand and Deliver: Sex, health and young people in the 21st century." The term "young people" refers to anyone over the age of 10.

The IPPF report includes a list of "Young People's Human Rights." Among them are the following:

● Young people have the right to privacy, which is essential to the exercise of sexual autonomy.
● Young people have the right to confidentiality regarding sexual health services and care.
● Young people have the right to access information and education about sexual rights, sexual orientation, sexuality, social relationships, and gender identity.
● Young people have the right to participate in the development and implementation of policies that determine their welfare, including their sexual and reproductive health.

In a special section called "Faith, Religion and Spirituality," the report describes a meeting it convened to give young people a chance to discuss their own sexual and reproductive health issues within religious contexts. Apparently religion is considered problematic by the IPPF, as evidenced by this statement in the report: "Culture, religion and traditions are some of the biggest obstacles in implementing sexual and reproductive health programmes for young people."

Now read carefully the following paragraph, as the IPFF not only criticizes religion vis-à-vis sex, but compares the Catholic Church to Islamic madrasas:

Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups – the Catholic Church and madrases (Islamic schools) for example – have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex and limited guidelines for sexual education often focus on abstinence before marriage....The reality is, young people are sexual beings and many of them are religious as well. There is a need for pragmatism, to address life as it is and not as it might be in an ideal world.

It's so breathtakingly outrageous, it's difficult to know where to start.

The notion that Planned Parenthood's international arm -- or any organization for that matter -- has any business telling children that they have the right to privacy, sexual autonomy, access to information about gender identity, and the right to determine policy regarding their reproductive health is beyond belief. Since when do children have the right to any of those things? How did we get to the point where an international organization is actually attempting to step between parents and children by usurping parental authority, much less the authority of religious institutions?

For the IPPF, centuries of traditional religious teachings are impediments to the pleasures of sex!

So by all means, let's make sure kids are well-versed in those pleasures. Forget the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, including more than 100 different strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) alone. Forget the estimated 46 million abortions performed annually across the globe. Put aside the concept of religious morality for its own sake. And, getting right down to it, since kids are going to have sex anyway, despite what their families and their faiths teach them, let's just go with it. Let's get real.

Or how about this for a concept. The IPPF, which, after all, is in favor of "planned parenthood," has an epiphany, deciding to switch gears and approach this issue from an entirely different point of view. Taking its cues from traditional Christian and Jewish teachings, it puts its resources behind supporting abstinence until marriage. It realizes that strong families and strong faith communities – without interference from outsiders – have the best chance of saving young people from unwanted pregnancies and disease. Deciding to aim high and expect the best from children and teens, it convenes an international meeting for young people on the topic of waiting, self-control, and self-discipline. Instead of teaching and promoting the "pleasures of sex," the IPPF decides to focus on the many important reasons for delaying those pleasures. It recognizes that rather than being an obstacle, for centuries religion has been society's best weapon against social anarchy.

One can always hope. And pray. Or cut off their funding.

Unfortunately, thanks to President Obama, the U.S. is again contributing money to support the IPPF. Former President George W. Bush had reinstated the so-called "Mexico City policy," forbidding U.S. financial support for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion services. Having rescinded that policy (as did fellow Democrat President Bill Clinton), President Obama has seen to it that U.S. funds not only support an organization which advocates for abortion services around the world, but now wants to teach children about the pleasures of sex.

After ten years as a producer for CBS News, forty-something years as an Episcopalian, and sixteen years as a mother, Marcia Segelstein (mvsegelstein@optonline.net) considers herself a reluctant rebel against the mainstream media, the Episcopal Church (and others which make up the rules instead of obeying them), and the decaying culture her children witness every day. Her pieces have been published in "First Things," "Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity," and "BreakpointOnline," and she is a contributing editor for Salvo magazine.

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