Mandatory Sex Education for Ten-Year-Olds? Yours?
The International Planned Parenthood Federation [IPPF] has a plan for your child -- and for every young person on earth. The influential group is calling for compulsory comprehensive sexuality education for every child and young person ages 10 to 24 on the planet.
The report, recently released by the IPPF, gets right to the point: "Young people today have the right to be fully informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services." That statement, offered by Bert Koenders, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is indicative of the "rights speech" that pervades the document. Citing international agreements and documents, the IPPF calls for children and teenagers, along with young adults, to be recognized as having a basic right to engage in sexual activity in virtually any form.
"Stand and Deliver: Sex, Health, and Young People in the 21st Century," is a document that demands attention and deserves close scrutiny. Interestingly, the document estimates that the current population of young people in this age group now numbers more than 1.75 billion -- the largest cohort of young people in human history. Thus, it suggests that comprehensive sexuality education must be offered to this generation immediately, or the opportunity will be lost forever. The "youth bulge" or "demographic bonus" is, the IPPF says, "a one-time opportunity."
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As the report states:
Sex and reproduction are central to our lives, this is a basic truth. Here is another: young people are sexual beings. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that sexuality education promotes individual well-being and the advancement of broader societal and public health goals. Comprehensive sexuality education is perhaps the single most important gift that parents can offer to their children -- and to adolescents everywhere -- as they approach the age at which they will begin to have sex.
That paragraph demands a careful analysis. No thoughtful person will deny that sex and reproduction are central to the human experience, nor that young people are sexual beings. But what this statement assumes, given the emphasis on "comprehensive sexuality education," is that being a sexual being means having sex. The IPPC is frighteningly clear about the kind of "broader societal and public health goals" to which this document refers. These include universal access to government-funded abortion, contraceptive services, and the full acceptance of homosexuality.
"Comprehensive sexuality education" is about far more than sex and reproduction. It includes education about contraception and the entire range of human sexual possibilities. It also includes advice on how sexual intercourse and other sexual acts can be made more pleasurable. In other words, sex advice for young people ages 10 to 24.
Note also that the IPPF suggests that comprehensive sexuality education "is perhaps the single most important gift that parents can offer to their children" -- a statement that says more about the authors of the document than the parents who may read it. But the statement does not just call for parents to offer comprehensive sexuality education to their own children, but "to adolescents everywhere."
Thus, the document later asserts that "comprehensive sexuality education must be mandatory in school" and also delivered to those who do not attend school.
"Stand and Deliver" also offers direct criticism of religious opposition to the IPPF agenda. "Culture, religion, and traditions are some of the biggest obstacles in implementing sexual and reproductive health programs for young people," it asserts. Further:
Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups -- Catholic Church and madrasas (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 (though evidence shows this strategy has been ineffective in many settings). The reality is, young people are sexual beings and many of them are religious we well. There is a need for pragmatism, to address life as it is and not as it might be in an ideal world.
In other words, any religious teachings that restrict sex to marriage must be abandoned in favor of a more pragmatic approach that simply assumes that young people will be sexually active. Parents -- just deal with it.
So much is revealed in this document. The International Planned Parenthood Federation, like its American member association, is tied to the dark legacy of Margaret Sanger, the movement's founder. Sanger was a radical advocate for abortion and eugenics -- the movement to discourage or deny reproduction among population groups identified as "bad stock." The Planned Parenthood movement is also a major abortion provider, making millions of dollars each year through the abortion industry.
The ideology of sexual liberation pervades this document and the group that produced it. The idea that teaching children and teenagers to save sex for marriage is treated as outdated, repressive, and unrealistic. Instead, parents are told that they must become sexual and moral pragmatists, hoping that their young offspring will enjoy sex to the fullest, while avoiding pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. In light of the fact that many, if not most parents refuse to follow this line, the IPPF calls for mandatory comprehensive sexuality education in the schools and wherever young people are to be found - including your children.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation does not have the institutional authority or power to make this happen unilaterally. Instead, it functions as a recognized non-governmental organization [NGO] that advises national and international governmental bodies. Do not discount that power and influence. International agreements and treaties increasingly threaten parental rights in this country and around the world.
Sexuality education is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of social revolution and transformation. Parents had better wake up fast and realize what is at stake. Is this the kind of sex education you want for your children? If not, we had better be ready to stand and deliver our own views on this subject, and counter the arguments found in Stand and Deliver.
