Posted on 05/04/2002 5:39:50 PM PDT by Pokey78
US undermines global declaration
President George W. Bush is blocking an international drive to provide teenage sex education because of his belief in chastity before marriage. Health experts say this could fatally undermine the battle against Aids.
Bush has poured millions of dollars into 'true love waits'-style programmes in America, which teach that abstinence out of wedlock is the best way to avoid underage pregnancy.
Now he has triggered a row with British and other European Union governments by refusing to sign a United Nations declaration on children's rights - designed to set funding priorities across the Third World - unless pledges on sexual health services are scrapped.
Experts argue that inflicting such views on Aids-stricken nations could have a catastrophic impact on millions of young people, threatening funding for life-saving drives to encourage condom use and safe abortions.
Clare Short's Department for International Development, alongside other EU governments, is insisting there should be no retreat on contraception - setting the stage for a clash at this week's UN summit on children's rights.
The Bush delegation objects on moral grounds to a pledge to guarantee 'reproductive and mental health services' for under-18s and to a pledge to 'protect the right of adolescents to sex education and avoiding unwanted/ early pregnancies'.
Backed by the Vatican, it is understood to have been pushing for guarantees that UN-funded sex education programmes will include commitments to preach chastity outside marriage.
That would stop Third World teachers discussing contraception honestly, campaigners say, with fatal consequences. Every minute, five people under 25 are infected with HIV worldwide, while 10 teenage girls undergo an unsafe abortion.
It's just a scandal,' said Françoise Girard of the International Women's Health Coalition. 'In today's world it is really unconscionable that the US should be objecting to a discussion of a full range of topics.' A similar impasse over the morning-after pill at a UN summit on women's health two years ago - triggered by the Vatican - prompted Short to accuse the Catholic Church of being 'morally destructive' and in an 'unholy alliance with reactionary forces'.
Talks to broker a deal resume tomorrow, but the Bush administration, supported by the Vatican and Islamic countries, is sticking to its guns. Charities fear the UN may be tempted to water down its policy to keep one of its biggest paymasters on board.
The aggressively Christian Bush administration has taken a harder moral line than the Clinton regime, which helped broker international agreement on contraception. Since coming to power, Bush has introduced laws cutting back on the use of the morning-after pill in the US and halted funding for international charities that give advice on abortion.
Thank God. Also, thanks to the Observer for allowing the word "regime" right after to the word "Clinton".
Bush has poured millions of dollars into 'true love waits'-style programmes in America, which teach that abstinence out of wedlock is the best way to avoid underage pregnancy.
OK, let me get this straight. Don't have sex, don't get AIDS. Health experts - what am I missing here?
Some domesticated camels, for instance, have to be "coached" by their handlers into mounting. They've apparently had that instinct bred out of them.
Needless to say humans are smart enough to figure out sex. Morality and personal responsibility? That's another thing. Maybe we should start concentrating on that instead.
Someone had to attach the world "scandal" to this, didn't they.
I find it truly amazing when someone objects on moral grounds, it becomes a "scandal".
One would think they had stock in HIV drug research and abortion clinics. Hmmmmm; ok, not such a far-out theory now that I think of it. Most crack-pot groups do have a financial motivation behind them.
MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/
I need someone to explain to me how committing to 'include' chastity in sex education would 'stop' teachers from discussing honestly, the other options. It says to include chastity in the curriculum, not limit the curriculum to only it. Or am I misreading?
If a corporation behaved so maliciously, and with foreknowledge to push a product that will hurt millions, they'd be put out of business. We need to hold the left accountable for the damage they're doing to families, to the children, to the world.
The feminists, the EU and this author are criminally negligent, imho. If we can't get them on contributing to the corruption of minors, we can at least send them letters....by the thousands, quietly, firmly stating the facts and calling the author on her lies.
By the way, the one country in Africa where aids is decreasing is Uganda...a nation with a Christian President who is stressing family values and abstenance...and the kids are listening. We have proof of what works, and what doesn't. This author is not only lying, she's pushing the agenda that has a proven track record of destruction.
Yeah...K...anything else new here?
FMCDH
My brain itches real bad.
Anyone spot the basic fallacy? How does the availability of abortion, either surgical or chemical, stop the spread of AIDS?
The answer is IT DOESN'T.
Yes, promoting moral sexual conduct will cause a worldwide disaster.Right.
Funny, God tells us that sin leads to death....the Devil tells us that if we don't sin we will die.
You ain't seen nuttin yet.
"Sex ed" in this country means that you tell 10yr olds how to TAKE THE PANTS OFF AND DO IT!
I do not exaggerate.
It's really the last thing a 10year old wants to know, but it seems that launching curiosity at that age brings problems--such as chlamydia, the clap, syphilis, and, yes indeedy, AIDS.
One last thing: if Clinton and that bonzo Surgeon General he had think it's a GOOD thing--it's BAD. (So much for 'sex ed.')
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