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June 6, 2005
Choice: option, alternative, preference,
selection, election: suggests the opportunity or privilege of choosing
freely
American
children are raised on choice. They cut their teeth on choice.
Stores live or
die based on their ability to offer consumers a myriad of choices.
Hotel conglomerates buy up competitors just so they can offer
travelers a range of overnight comfort. Marriott is not just
Marriott. It is Fairfield, Courtyard, Springhill…well, you get the
picture.
It’s no wonder
that Choice became the mantra of Planned Parenthood. In their
own Encyclopedia of Women’s Health, they list out the reasons
“a woman may choose an abortion,” much like you would list the reasons
why a girl might choose a pizza.
Choice is
captivating. Marrying choice to freedom, we elevate the
power to choose to an inalienable right. Thus, the sexual revolution
was born on the wings of freedom and choice with its emphasis on an
array of sexual behaviors from which any man or woman, girl or boy,
could simply choose.
And with a
sexual revolution came sex education. In 1970, a training in
Philadelphia for Planned Parenthood staff concluded with a
day-and-a-half marathon of films and discussion. The goal of these
trainings? “To lead to desensitization of anxieties surrounding
sexual behavior…with a resultant development of understanding and
tolerance of the range of sexual behavior.”
For over twenty
years, this “tolerance” formed the foundation of sex education
programs supported by Planned Parenthood. They were all about
choice…a child’s right to choose sex from a “range” of
behaviors…given the “tools” of contraception. And if it didn’t work
out, there was always one more choice.
Planned
Parenthood has grown up on choice. It cut its teeth on choice.
Thus, it is
either surprising, alarming or amusing to watch them conduct a war
against choice. This war can be traced back to 1980 when U.S. Senator
Jeremiah Denton won congressional approval of the Adolescent Family
Life Act (AFLA). Designed as an “almost exact mirror alternative” to
Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding, AFLA set a new course for sex
education. Program objectives emphasized adoption, parental
involvement, abstinence from sexual intercourse, and pro-family
education for teenagers.
Well… that was
just a little too much choice for Planned Parenthood to handle. It
geared up to undo the harm of excess choice. In Congress, it fought
to limit and ultimately decrease AFLA funding at the same time that it
sought increases in Title X funding. It continued to exploit its own
federal funding streams flowing from over 100 different laws. In the
battle between U.S. funding of Planned Parenthood-style programs and
abstinence programs, they had a funding advantage by one report of at
least 75:1.
Another tactic
to eliminate AFLA programs was an attack on the very meaning of the
term “abstinence.” In a March 1987 report written by Marie Haviland-James
for the Planned Parenthood Federation, an attack on the abstinence
program Sex Respect set out an extensive list of objections
including: “many references…to a ‘spiritual’ dimension of sexuality”,
“use of the word ‘baby’ for fetus”, and “unsubstantiated claims” such
as “abstinence has future benefits for teens.”
In its battle
against choice, Planned Parenthood had no better friend than Senator
Edward Kennedy. In the 101st Congress, he submitted two
bills with the intent to subvert the AFLA programs by repealing the
focus on adoption and abstinence, requiring abortion counseling, and
repealing the mandate for parental involvement. No wonder, Senator
Kennedy received a Planned Parenthood Memo for March 28, 1989,
warmly praising his help in crafting legislation to “prevent teenage
pregnancy rather than teenage sex.”
Apparently, for
Planned Parenthood, choice is worth defending…as long as it is their
choice.
Abstinence
education is a choice that parents pay for with hard-earned tax
dollars. It is a choice to have medically accurate and complete
information presented to their children that helps build understanding
of and reinforcement for abstaining from sexual behavior. It helps
teens define future goals, and it is taught by teachers who value
teens enough to believe in them and their ability to succeed.
Abstinence
education is a choice. No school district, nor any parent or student,
is forced to listen to or believe in the abstinence message. It is a
choice.
Abstinence
education is one choice. Nothing prevents a school from inviting
abstinence educators to their campus in October and inviting Planned
Parenthood to their campus in February.
But that’s not
good enough for Planned Parenthood. If they are to have their way, we
will be paying our taxes to have one choice, and one choice
only…theirs.
Choice? Hey,
Planned Parenthood…what about the choice of people who don’t want your
choice?
February 21, 2005
Sex Without Value
April 2, 2004 Sex Education:
Spinning the Truth
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