My first reaction to this is the same reaction I have had every time I have seen such reports over the past twenty years. That is, “What do you expect when you place the fox in the chicken coop?”
When parents are encouraged to inoculate their preteens against the sexually transmitted disease known as human papillomavirus, when kindergarten children are exposed to comic book characters who represent condoms and when any child can sit in front of a television set at any hour of the day and watch inappropriate commercials—not to mention programming—what in the world should we expect? The discussion of sexual relations has become a topic that is no more off limits than choosing the kind of breakfast cereal you want to have, whether you are five or 50 years of age.
And the culprit—or should I say the chief architect of this sad state of affairs—is none other than Planned Parenthood. But wait! Planned Parenthood is crying wolf! They claim that the reason for this horrifying statistic is abstinence education! Oh really?
Planned Parenthood and its cronies have had easy access to children of all ages ever since I got involved in the pro-life movement nearly 40 years ago. One of the reasons we moved to rural Virginia 32 years ago was to avoid “sex education.” At the time we had three young children. But today sex indoctrination courses are everywhere and the resulting difficulties facing parents are overwhelming even when their children are entrusted to private schools.
It is only in the recent past that we pro-lifers have finally begun to see some strong opposition to the smut. The organized protests are coming forth from parents and educators trained in the ways to stop Planned Parenthood by the staff of American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood International. But after more than 40 years of having Planned Parenthood entrenched in every single government program that has anything at all to do with educating our children, the current battle is a typical David and Goliath struggle.
These most recent statistics are but one testimony to that sad reality. The most recent study from the Centers for Disease Control shows clearly that HPV, chlamydia and herpes are the main culprits with 15% of teens having more than one of these. One spokesperson from Girls Inc. claims that young women are “having sex when they’re slightly younger and, because they’re having sex at a lot younger age, they are having more than one partner.”
So, you might wonder, what is her recommendation? How would she solve this reality? The experts quoted in the article say that parents need to take this information seriously and ensure that their young daughters are “screened and taught about prevention and protection.”
In other words, even with the devastating news reported in this study, those in public policy positions are going to suggest more of the same. You see, “prevention and protection” are code words for condoms, birth control pills, injections and all manner of tools that will provide the sexually active teenager with the equipment needed to continue on the radical course of sexual activity outside of marriage. Nary a word about purity or chastity will be found in a single news report about this latest study . . . except of course to point the accusatory finger at those who promote virtue.
While the pharmaceutical houses and the condom production businesses like Planned Parenthood must be licking their chops as they prepare for even higher sales, people like me are saddened beyond words. Our children have become the victims of America’s sexually saturated culture, a culture where kids have grown accustomed to living with only one parent, and where many of these same children see multiple boyfriends or girlfriends in their own home.
Where once there was a special chair for grandpa when he came to visit, today there is a special couch for the latest date. Do you think that could be part of the problem? I certainly do!
As Frank Joseph, M.D. emailed after he reviewed the latest reports, “As one of the most famous equations by Einstein is E = MC2, so also is the following equation of the utmost importance and more easily understood: More condoms = more sex = more STDs and pregnancies. This equation has stood the test of time. It is irrefutable.”
The only recommended course of action facing us today is the same course of action that has been with us for all time: Save sex for marriage and in the interim be pure in thought and chaste in action. And of course, when such a course is chosen, chastity within marriage becomes just as easy and perhaps that is why among couples who entrust their fertility to God within marriage, less than two percent will ever have to face divorce and all the pain that flows from it.
Oh, and there is a final note on this subject! As Catholics here at American Life League we know the pain and heartache that accompany the sad outcomes many face because they never heard a word about Church teaching in matters of sexuality from the very pulpits upon which every Catholic should be able to rely for declarations of truth and love. The silence of those pulpits is frequently deafening. And as Father Tom Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, has written:
Priestly silence about contraception has eternal consequences. The price of that silence is the loss of souls.
