Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10

[leistb]

Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10

Monday , February 08, 2010
By Ed Barnes



A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures.

The report, "Stand and Deliver," charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education.

"Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. 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." the report states.

Click here to read the report.

The report demands that children 10 and older be given a "comprehensive sexuality education" by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as "sexual beings."

"Young people have the right to be informed about sexuality and to have access to contraceptives and other services," Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation, wrote in the foreword to the report. It was his organization that helped fund the report.

The report argues that sex education should be "recast" to show sexuality as a "positive force for change and development, as a source of pleasure, an embodiment of human rights and an expression of self."

Much like a U.N. report released last August that advocated teaching masturbation to children as young as 5, "Stand and Deliver" has set off a wave of protest among religious and conservative groups.

Ed Mechmann, spokesman for New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, charged that Planned Parenthood was "trying to teach children sex without values and that sex is a matter of pleasure and done without consequences."

He said religions like Catholicism and Islam teach sex as part of a much bigger picture and that Planned Parenthood was trying to de-link sex from traditional values.

"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."

Mechmann also charged that Planned Parenthood's report was compromised because it has a financial stake advocating the changes. "The difference between Planned Parenthood and us is that we don't make money off what we teach and say. They do. They make money off contraceptives and abortions," he said.

Michelle Turner, president of the Maryland-based Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said Planned Parenthood was simply trying to eliminate parental say.

"What are they trying to do? They are trying to eliminate the role of mom and dad in the family," Turner said. "For Planned Parenthood to decide that governments, private organizations and religious organizations should make decisions about kids' sexuality is just going too far."

"It is part of a bigger push to change the way we think about sex," she said. That sex is all about pleasure and there are no consequences. They are wrong. No matter how much we teach children, some will make mistakes. They will forget. And Planned Parenthood doesn't want to deal with that," she said.

"They see religious groups, especially those that counsel abstinence and waiting until marriage, as bad guys," she added. "We aren't."

Planned Parenthood said it was unable to comment because the report was issued by its European office and it was unable to contact them.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585108,00.html

[Fartacus]

Originally Posted by leistb

Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education

I'd like to be educated about Intensive Sex. Where do I sign up?

[VT9]

Did I forget to submit my earlier post here or was it deleted?

[rb.]

Well, at 10 you should catch most of the girls before they're capable of becoming pregnant, so it sounds about right to me. I was in 5th grade, so about the same age, when we started sex ed in school.

[Potemkin]

So I looked over the report, kind of fast. I don't see "age 10".

I see the recommendations at the end and they all look like smart ideas to me.

Like they used to say "Where's the beef?"

Engage with young people as
equal partners by providing
opportunities for them to
participate in public life and in
development activities

Encourage young people to
participate in governance and public
decision-making

Involve young people in the design,
implementation and evaluation of
public health services

Create opportunities for young
people to innovate

Involve young people as advocates,
researchers and peer educators

Invest in youth-friendly sexual
and reproductive health
programmes and services

Expand and reinvigorate sexual and
reproductive health policies and
programmes to meet the needs
of young people, including youthfriendly
services that address local
cultural and social factors

Make comprehensive sexuality
education mandatory in school and
invest in multi-sectoral sexuality
education programmes to reach
out-of-school youth

Train health practitioners, parents
and others who engage with young
people to provide youth-friendly
services and to support young
people appropriately on issues
related to sexual and reproductive
health and rights

Increase the number of entry points
to sexual and reproductive health
programmes by implementing an
intersectoral approach


Actively confront underlying
social factors and practices
that threaten young people’s
development and perpetuate
inequality

Enact and enforce laws to prevent
child marriage

Improve the quantity and quality
of education, especially for girls;
ensure that secondary and tertiary
education is relevant for the skills
needed in the workforce

Implement job creation
programmes and encourage
flexibility in hiring and job mobility.
Provide incentives to encourage
private sector firms to invest
in training young people and
to increase gender equality in
employment opportunities

Support community-based support
programmes for marginalized youth,
such as mentorship programmes,
sports and clubs

[flourbug]

Nothing deleted... which, I guess, means your mind is going.

[Fartacus]

Originally Posted by rb.

Well, at 10 you should catch most of the girls before they're capable of becoming pregnant, so it sounds about right to me. I was in 5th grade, so about the same age, when we started sex ed in school.

Girl, 11, Gives Birth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,... .000000:b0:z0

Girl, 11, Gives Birth to Baby Boy in Northeast Hospital

Friday, February 05, 2010
By Jessica Ryen Doyle

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The girl's mother said her daughter and the baby are doing well.

An 11-year-old girl in the Northeast recently gave birth to a baby boy, the girl’s family told Fox News.

"My daughter and (her) baby are fine, and the baby is absolutely beautiful," said the mother of the 11-year-old girl. The girl and her family are not being named in order to protect the new parent's privacy.

According to Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FoxNews.com, the girl’s age places her in significant danger.

"A very comprehensive approach to her care needs to be instituted early in her pregnancy," Alvarez said.

A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute said teen pregnancies in the U.S. were up 3 percent in 2006. But this case is not about a teenager, noted Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan, a leading high-risk obstetrician — it’s about a pre-teen whose body is not yet built to carry a child.

"Her body is clearly not defined for pregnancy with its short stature," Al-Khan said. "Her chest is not extensively developed for breast tissue, her bones aren't quite fused, and once you expose a child this young to high amounts of progesterone and especially estrogen, there is (a possibility) that it could halt her growth."

Al-Khan said other medical challenges facing a pregnant girl as young as 10 or 11 include:

— The pelvis is not defined for natural childbirth;

— The vagina could sustain injury during a natural birth;

— The patient is at high risk for preeclampsia, a pregnancy condition marked by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, and which can lead to convulsions and multi-system organ failure;

— A higher risk of pre-term labor and delivery, which would mean the baby’s size would be compromised, leaving the baby at risk for developmental issues, fetal growth restriction and chromosomal abnormalities;

— Higher incidence of stillbirth;

— Higher incidence of cholestasis of pregnancy, a condition caused by the blockage of bile, which can lead to stillbirth and placenta issues;

— A chance of developing fatty liver, which can be fatal.

"The textbooks don’t even tell you how to deal with a 10-year-old; it’s completely different even though we understand the basics," Al-Khan said.

Al-Khan said a patient like this would benefit from early intervention and would have to be seen on a weekly basis during the pregnancy to prevent complications.

"Think about how difficult a pregnancy is for someone in their 20s or 30s ... the aches, pains, the sleep deprivation," Al-Khan said. "Now imagine it in a child."

There are also psychological issues associated with pre-teen pregnancy because a 10-year-old cannot be mentally ready to give birth, Al-Khan said.

"This is heart-wrenching because you have a kid whose mental capacities can’t possibly wrap themselves around what it means to be a mother," agreed Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and Fox News contributor. "There are so many psychological minefields in store for her. Feelings of guilt, feelings of wanting to nurture another human being, and yet this is all very, very complex and intense when she looks to her own family to essentially support, and if you will, father her child."

Ablow pointed out that the girl is dependent on her own family to take care of her, yet she now has a child who is dependent on her.

"She has her own life plan, and yet there’s another life that should take precedence," Ablow said.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly half of all 15-19 year-olds in the U.S. have had sex at least once.

In 2002, some 13 percent of never-married females aged 15-19 had had sex before the age of 15, according to the think tank.

Al-Khan said it was likely that the possibility of terminating the baby would have come up in this case, because as sensitive a subject as it is, going through with the pregnancy would be a greater risk than having an abortion.

The youngest documented case of a child pregnancy was in 1939 in Lima, Peru, Al-Khan said. Lina Medina was six years old when she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby.

[VT9]

I wonder if anyone is getting a kick back from the Cyrus' for this decision?

[VT9]

Originally Posted by flourbug

Nothing deleted... which, I guess, means your mind is going.

I was really afraid of that.

[flourbug]

No worries. You're in good company.

[Brihard]

Hate to break it to yas, but kids that age know about sex, with varying degrees of accuracy. On top of that, they've not long to go before the parts start working as intended.

Might as well confront the issue realistically.

[clutterbug]

Originally Posted by Brihard

Hate to break it to yas, but kids that age know about sex, with varying degrees of accuracy. On top of that, they've not long to go before the parts start working as intended.

Might as well confront the issue realistically.

BINGO! the sooner we talk to kids, the sooner they start to understand but it doesn't all happen at once.

Also, if you dont let a child become used to the parents and adults talking to them about sex, if you wait till they are in the prepubescent 11 / 12 year age range, the kid will shut down completely to the parents info cuz the kid is embaressed & then the kid shuts down to the info.

[rb.]

Originally Posted by Brihard

Hate to break it to yas, but kids that age know about sex, with varying degrees of accuracy. On top of that, they've not long to go before the parts start working as intended.

Bri, IMO it is not to present them with the idea of sex for the first time, but to educate about ALL of the aspects of sex...physical (menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth control, STD avoidance), emotional (equality, privacy, abuse, etc.), and all the rest of it. I don't think any parent who thinks their 10 year old has never heard of sex is living on this planet.

I may have been around 10 when we took it in school, but at age 8 my mom handed me the most awesome set of four volumes on sex, and life from puberty on, that I so wish I could find for my youngest. By the time we took it in school, I was so well read on the subject that when the teacher asked if we had any questions, I asked if twins meant one umbilical cord, or two? And were they completely separate, or did they start out as one and branch off. Um...he didn't have the answer.