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] <Profamilia>, 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] <Profamilia> 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' <Profamilia> has more or less the same objectives
of PPFA and IPPF. The executive director of <Profamilia>, 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, <Profamilia> 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, <Profamilia> 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," <Profamilia> 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 <Profamilia>. In these announcements, the public is informed about
<Profamilia's> telephone information line, which even minors can call and obtain
"counseling" and information regarding contraceptives, sterilization and condoms.[8]
According to <Profamilia>, 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 (<Taller de Alternativas para la Prevencion del Sida>-Workshop of Alternatives
for the Prevention of AIDS), is a project of the CDC which also collaborates with
<Profamilia.> 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]
<Profamilia> 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.
<Profamilia> 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, <Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood> (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'," <The San Juan
Star>(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: "<Los preservativos y las campanas anti SIDA>," (Condoms and the anti-
AIDS campaigns), (Miami: <Vida Humana Internacional>/ 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."
To subscribe contact:
HLI Reports
7845 Airpark Road, Suite E
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
FTP: EWTN.COM
Telnet: EWTN.COM
Email address: SYSOP@ EWTN.COM
EWTN provides a Catholic online
information and service system.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
