LAC News
Planned Parenthood: Leading the Little Ones Astray
By LaToya Cain
December 2007

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that with more than 1 million cases of Chlamydia reported in the U.S. last year, the U.S. has set a record for having the most cases ever reported for any sexually transmitted disease (STD).¹ Those who blindly accept the propaganda from so-called sexuality and relationship "experts" with groups like Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) that pre-marital sex, cohabitation and sex with "no strings attached" are harmless are probably gasping in surprise. What is evident is that this propaganda is a lie that does great disservice and harm to the health of young people (teenagers in particular).

Yet, it is unlikely that these Planned Parenthood "experts" will educate and inform teens of the many dangers of sexual profligacy. Using the PPFA website teenwire.com, they routinely promote the sexual revolution to pre-teens and teens because of the millions of taxpayer funds that PPFA receives as a Title X grantee. Encouraging our kids to partake in dangerous and unhealthy behaviors is not the best we can do for them.

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, said, "It seems obvious that American society is paying a high price for promoting sexual promiscuity - especially with the record high number of Chlamydia cases. This STD is notoriously difficult to detect, and it is virtually asymptomatic, yet it is a leading cause of sterility. With many young women engaging in recreational sex - sometimes having three-to-five partners a year - they are foolishly engaging in behavior that will affect the rest of their lives.

"In spite of the known risks and virtually inevitable outcomes of recreational sex, we continue to mislead young people into thinking that they can sow their wild oats without reaping a harvest of broken hearts, damaged bodies and incurable STDs," said Crouse.

How exactly are the sexuality and relationships "experts" at Teenwire teaching kids to reduce or eliminate their risks of getting Chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases? Their website contains only a limited amount of information on how teens can prevent and protect themselves from Chlamydia. Its first and only suggestion is "to abstain from the type of sex play that transmit infections, or by practicing safer sex if you're sexually active."

Teenwire's "experts" fail to mention that the only foolproof way to reduce the risks of contracting an STD is to abstain from all forms of sexual activity. Refraining from promiscuous behaviors is also not mentioned. In fact, Teenwire "experts" send the message that having multiple sex partners is not only desirable but acceptable. On Teenwire's website, there is more information on ways to have sexual intercourse, sex play and how to deal with the consequences of such sexual freedom than there is on how to prevent and protect a person from getting an STD. Teenwire experts also choose to downplay the seriousness of those consequences by using the term "infection" instead of "disease" when discussing sexually transmitted diseases.

For years, Planned Parenthood has loudly claimed that abstinence education programs are ineffective, do not provide medically accurate information and produce no positive results. Yet, by highlighting the findings of a 2005 survey which reports that a little under half (46.8 percent) of the nearly 14,000 high school students surveyed nationwide are not sexually active, Teenwire "experts" accidentally reinforce the truth that not everyone is "doing it," Teenwire "experts" know this just as well as any of us. To what do liberals attribute the decision of so many teens to abstain from sex in a sex-saturated culture if not the intentional and effective use of abstinence education programs?

With vibrant colors and interactive games, quizzes and videos to attract teenagers and kids to the website, Teenwire doesn't provide teens with all the information they need to make responsible decisions. One video found on Teenwire's website makes a joke of abstinence, based on the presumption that not one teen visiting the website is choosing to remain abstinent and instead are just virgins-in-waiting. Teenwire addresses sex in such a way as to lessen the seriousness of the responsibility that comes with being sexually active. Bordering on pornographic, the explicit literature found on Teenwire's website pollutes the minds of teenagers by advocating homosexuality and a hedonistic philosophy and lifestyle.

Teenwire's very open and "in your face" type of instruction for discussing sex with teens is understandably attractive to young people. Young people are looking for transparency and straightforwardness, yet the information given to teens on Teenwire should be given by parents and other adults closer to the teens. Parents should be educating teens about sexuality and relationships, not strangers on the Internet. Teenwire's breach of responsibility reflects the "progressive" direction liberals want to take our culture - a "have it your way" America where anything goes and sexual license without limits masquerades as the pinnacle of individual freedom. The adage "it takes a village to raise a child" means it takes the government and detached "experts" to raise a child.

The parents are the ones who will deal with the consequences of the ill-advised promotion of sex before marriage, so it should be the parents who instruct their children on matters of sex and relationships. Parents would be wise to check out the information influencing the life-changing decisions that their teens will face and make every effort to address their children's difficult questions on sexuality and relationships. Missing that responsibility risks opening the door for outside "experts" to fool our children into making poor decisions based on bad information.