A new Planned Parenthood report advocates telling children as young as 10 about the pleasures of sex and undermines religious taboos against premarital sex.
The report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation criticizes denominations such as the Catholic Church and various Islamic institutions for their attitudes about sexual activity. It mirrors a similar U.N. report in August that said children as young as 5 should be taught to masturbate.
Children 10 and older should be seen as “sexual beings” and receive “comprehensive sexuality education” because sexuality should be seen as “a positive force for change and development,” as well as an “embodiment of human rights and an expression of self,” according to the report, titled “Stand and Deliver.”
“Young people’s sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions,” the report says. “Fundamentalist and other religious groups — the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic schools) for example — have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex.”
It decries the religious emphasis on sexual abstinence before marriage as “ineffective” and calls for pragmatism when it comes to sex before marriage.
“By highlighting strong values in faiths and religions, and overcoming stigma and stereotypes that religious conventions perpetuate, communities and leaders can help improve young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health information and services,” the report said.
In helping write the report, Dutch official Bert Koenders argued that young people have the right to contraceptives and to be “fully informed about sexuality.”
“These rights are enshrined in various internationally agreed human rights conventions and treaties, but unfortunately ̶ they are still not universally respected,” wrote Koenders, the Dutch minister for Development Cooperation.
The taboo on sexuality among young people is a key driving force behind the AIDS epidemic, teenage pregnancy, and maternal mortality, he wrote.
The report raised the ire of many religious traditionalists who say it misses the bigger picture.
“Effective sex education deals with the whole person, not as objects driven uncontrollably by a sex drive,” Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright told Newsmax. “The release of Planned Parenthood's 'report' comes at a bad time for the group, with a ground-breaking study released last week showing that teaching abstinence is more effective in helping kids make right choices.”
The study is akin to having a tobacco company release a report advocating that 10-year-olds smoke, she said.
“It promotes risky behavior to children not mature enough to understand the consequences, in order to create more customers for Planned Parenthood's contraception and abortion business,” Wright said.
“Planned Parenthood provides ideological justification for molesters who think children are 'sexual beings' and enjoy being molested. Young kids who engage in sexual activity are usually acting out something that an adult has done to them.”
Wright said Planned Parenthood is an organization of “sex-obsessed adults” with a nefarious ulterior motive for luring children to experiment with sex.
Ed Mechmann, who works for the New York Archdiocese’s Family Life/Respect Life Office, expressed similar sentiments to Fox News, saying that Planned Parenthood wants “to teach children sex without values and that sex is a matter of pleasure and done without consequences.”
The federation sees delinking sexual morality from religious strictures as part of a much bigger push toward global secularization, Mechmann said.
“It is part of an effort to get children to reject traditional values and accept a liberal American-European view,” he said. “In many traditional countries — Catholic and Muslim ̶ it won’t work and should be seen as cultural imperialism.”
The International Planned Parenthood Federation was unavailable for comment.
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