Lois Cunningham

by Lois Cunningham

In a recent Nashville Tennessean op-ed, Dr. Frank Boehm noted that abortion rates are falling nationally. That is perhaps true.

Dr. Boehm further believes that this drop is due primarily to the growing availability and use of contraceptives.

Not so fast.

Dr. Boehm notes that abortion rates are at their lowest in decades “due to a host of factors,” but then he ignores all factors but one.  He claims that “The reason abortion numbers are at the lowest level in years is relatively easy to explain: more women have been able to obtain and use reliable contraception.”

He gives no source for the contraception claim.  Let’s consider some of “the host of factors” for the decline in abortion numbers:

1. Women are being educated about the violence of abortion and its numerous risks to women, thanks to the efforts of numerous pro-life organizations (www.abortionNo.org).
2. Women now have access to free services and alternatives to abortion at several thousand pregnancy resource centers in all 50 states.
3. Women who have had prior abortions are speaking out in greater numbers about the deep regret they have felt after aborting their preborn children.
4. The law restrains abortion numbers.  According to Dr. Michael New, “A growing body of peer-reviewed research shows that public-funding restrictions, parental-involvement laws, and properly designed informed-consent laws all reduce abortion rates.” (Casey at 25: Pro-Life Progress Despite a Judicial Setback) Dr. Boehm gave no citation for his claim to the contrary.

Abortion numbers are not completely reliable.  The CDC reports that only 33 out of 52 reporting areas (50 states plus New York City and Washington, D.C.) include medical (i.e., chemical drug) abortion in their reports.  For the areas that do report, statistics from 2004 to 2013 demonstrate that medical abortion increased 110% to account for 22.3% of all abortions by 2013 (Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2013).  The reality is that an unknown number of medical abortions are executed through abortion clinics and at private doctors’ offices; they are never reported to the CDC.

Dr. Boehm advocates for “long acting reversible contraception” without mentioning the potential harm done to women’s reproductive systems.  These hazards include (1) perforation of the uterus which can damage surrounding organs, (2) intracranial hypertension, which can lead to loss of vision, (3) dizziness, (4) mood alteration, and (5) abnormal uterine bleeding. (Drug-Watch: Mirena; Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Associated with Hormonal Contraception)

from the National Abstinence Education Association (link):

New Survey: Taxpayer Dollars Funding Programs that Pressure Teens to Have Sex

Congress must correct sex education policy in upcoming budget debate

The results of a new nationally representative survey of teens reports that they think their “comprehensive sex education” classes pressured them to have sex.  This troubling news comes just as Congress takes up the FY 2016 spending bill, which funds sex education.

Nearly 4 in 10 teens report that programs, like those currently funded under the President’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, are actually encouraging teens to have sex.   In fact, teens reported that their sex education classes exerted pressure to have sex more than their dating partners.  One in five teens also said that demonstrating contraception sends the message that teen sex is expected. Male teens are twice as likely to feel this pressure than their female classmates.

Valerie Huber, President of Ascend/NAEA remarks: “The fact that youth are hearing from their sex education classes that sex as a teen is okay, and even expected is very troubling.  And just as troubling, is the fact that the  federal sex education budget currently sends 95% of funding to the very programs that teens say make sex feel like an expectation.  Don’t our teens deserve a healthier alternative?  They certainly do!”

The House and Senate FY 2016 appropriations drafts combine to give healthier information to teens. Specifically, the following changes to sex education policy are proposed:

• Parity.  Parity in funding and policy for the Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) approach. Currently 95% of all sex ed. funding goes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which normalizes sex for teens.
• Healthy Relationship Provisions.  Key provisions of the Healthy Relationships Act, a bicameral bill that assures that SRA funding actually goes to programs that give youth the skills to wait for sex.
• Accurately Naming the Program.  Referring to SRA programs as “SRA programs,” rather than the less precise – and often mischaracterized term – “abstinence education.”

Soon, Congress must decide how to continue funding the government. This is their opportunity to right a wrong clearly revealed in the recent teen survey.

Huber concludes: “Now is the time to send a healthier message to America’s youth. We urge Congress to ratify the sex education funding and policy changes proposed in the FY 2016 spending bill. It’s not too late to improve the information and messages that teens receive, but we cannot delay: Congress can assure teens are empowered with great expectations for their future rather than the risky expectation of sex as a teen.

Read the House and Senate provisions in the FY 2016 spending bill.

Note: The survey was conducted by the Barna Group with 533 U.S. Teens ages 18 and 19 from an online consumer research panel, July 9 – 17, 2015. This data is representative of “adult” teens (no consent needed for participation) who have access to the internet in some form.

from the National Abstinence Education Association
www.theNAEA.org www.AbstinenceWorks.org

Recently, a Minneapolis sex education teacher took students as young as 11 to Smitten Kitten – which, according to its own description is a “progressive sex toy store for everyone.”

Not surprisingly, parents were outraged. One summarized his frustration over the field trip as a “major breach of trust” and caused him to remove his children from the school.

While this story garnered national headlines, explicit sex-advocacy as part of sex education classes across the nation are not all that unique.

NAEA shares their outrage. Parents were not notified of the field trip and the sex toy store has since been cited for exposing minors to explicit products. However, Starri Hedges, who teaches the school’s sex education class, indicated she wanted to provide a “safe and welcoming environment for students to learn about human sexual behavior.”  The interpretation of what constitutes  “safe” and “welcoming” begs an urgent question of adult judgment.

While this story garnered national headlines, explicit sex-advocacy as part of sex education classes across the nation are not all that unique. This particular teacher remarked that in regard to sexual topics, “there is no right age for all kids.”  So it comes as no surprise that the sex ed teacher would find it appropriate to introduce barely pubescent students to the products inside the walls of Smitten Kitten.

“While adolescents deserve accurate information and skills to avoid sexual risk, teen-sex-advocacy and provocative information is beyond the pale. The majority of teens are not sexually active, and that figure has increased 15% in the past 20 years. The ‘too much, too soon’ sex education lobby in Minneapolis and in other communities across the nation is harmful. It exposes a growing, blatant attitude among contraceptive-focused sex educators that unapologetically advocates teen sex as normal and even expected behavior.” notes, Valerie Huber, president of NAEA.

Sex education should equip teens to avoid all sexual risk by waiting for sex – and should offer practical encouragement and skills for the sexually active teen to choose a healthier lifestyle – free from the risks of continued teen sex.

This story from Minneapolis reveals the blurred lines between sex “education” and sex “advocacy” within those classes that normalize teen sex through their alleged “comprehensive” approach to the topic.

WARNING: EXPLICIT MATERIAL
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

Make no mistake about it, Planned Parenthood (PP) is coming after your children.  See video report below, Hooking Kids on Sex II.  (The original version was taken down by YouTube after a complaint by a PP operative.)

Paul Rondeau, Executive Director of the American Life League, authored a report for the Washington Times that described how the sex industry is using your money to promote perverted sex to children as young as kindergarten.

Excerpts:

PP is funded with our tax dollars to market sex to our children in our schools under the guise of sex education, anti-bullying, diversity, and tolerance. Once sexualized, those children then become PP sex customers for contraceptives, STD testing, and abortion.

Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) activist and kindergarten teacher Jaki Williams has said that during kindergarten children are “developing their superego,” and “that’s when the saturation process needs to begin.”

Read Mr. Rondeau’s full article here.

See ALL video report, Hooking Kids on Sex II:

Awesome video produced by Students for Life of America (SFLA) explains how Planned Parenthood’s (PP’s) business model is fueled by promoting sex among teenagers.  Key points:

1. PP is Big Business that sells one thing, abortion.
2. They need to sell as many as they can, so …
3. They turn teenage children into loyal customers.  First, they start with sex ed programs that promote promiscuity.  Then, they sell low-quality contraception to teens, guaranteeing that many of them will contract STDs and get pregnant.
4. When the teens return to PP with unplanned pregnancies — unplanned by the teens, but most assuredly planned by PP — PP offers “counseling.”  The purpose of the “counseling” is to help PP achieve revenue goals by meeting abortion sales quotas.  To sell more abortions, PP sales teams push teens toward abortion and away from parenting and adoption.
5. Each abortion sold to a teenager brings in $450.
6. Planned Parenthood is about abortion.  No matter what.

We know that Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion routinely help child rapists get away with their crimes, in such a way that the abuse can continue undetected.  We first became aware of this when Life Dynamics reported on the scandal about 10 years ago.

More recently, Live Action has reported video evidence that Planned Parenthood is still more than willing to help child sexual abusers and even sex traffickers commit and continue their crimes.

Big Abortion’s criminal cover-up continues.  Just two recent examples:

• In Washington (story here and here)
• In Indiana (story here)

In the video report below, produced earlier this year by Life Dynamics, the following statements jumped out:

 … girls between 10 and 15 years old are now more likely to be impregnated by adult males than they are by boys near their own ages.
***
Life Dynamics has documented that virtually no mandatory reporting is being done by the clinics that provide these services.  In fact, not only are the people at these facilities almost universally ignoring their states mandatory reporting laws, they often take an active role in circumventing them.

You wonder how this can happen?  It’s not just the profit motive.  And it’s not just your basic extremist ideological commitment to a woman’s “right” to a safe, legal, and rare abortion.  No, it’s even more sinister than that (if that’s even possible).  Some … not all, but some … of the people who populate Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion are wholly committed to the notion that any limitation on sexual behavior is unjust, so long as the act is consented to by both … check that … all parties.  Even pre-teen children should have unlimited discretion to have sex with whomever they choose, including dirty old men.  In their view, anything short of forcible rape is not abuse.

Excellent essay from FAB contributing author Bradley Mattes.  Mr. Mattes is the Executive Director of Life Issues Institute.

They’ve sunk to a new low
by Bradley Mattes

Just when I think I’ve heard it all, I come across something that makes me pause in disgust. This week, I read an article from the Huffington Post titled, “How Do You Feel about Sex and Teenage Sleepovers?”

There’s no doubt how I feel, but let’s first take a look at what the author said. In the first paragraph she asks, “Why not teach children how to have sex well, the way you teach them how to do other things?” She elaborates, describing parents inviting the teenager’s partner over, having a nice dinner and then the couple “toddles” off to bed together. (In reality, that’s just permitting the behavior to take place, not actually educating.)

Then she goes further stating, “It seems logical to me that the same way I try to teach my kids to exercise, sleep well and be good people, I would teach them to have healthy sex with other good people.” Appalling mental scenarios come to mind, but I’m not going there.

The author’s arguments in the article are built on a number of faulty premises. I’ll address three:

1. Blaming abstinence-only sex-education for the teen pregnancy rate in the US.  Abstinence-only sex-ed has become increasingly rare in our schools, instead being replaced by so-called comprehensive sex-ed. The truth is, comprehensive sex-ed isn’t working. It fosters an environment of promoting adolescent sexual activity by implying that teen relationships should include sex. Further, it falsely assumes that teens don’t have the ability to avoid sexual experimentation. Teens are actually empowered by embracing sexual purity. For example, a group called Healthy Visions has been welcomed into high schools to tackle tough issues like promiscuity. They present teens with the consequences of sexual activity and empower them to make better life choices. Through their no-nonsense, straightforward approach, teens are shown they can “change their story.” The impact it’s had on students’ lives is nothing short of astounding. To meet some of their successes firsthand, watch our Emmy Award-winning episode of Facing Life Head-On called “Teens Making Healthy Choices.”
2. Presenting only two perspectives: either abstinence means “sex-is-bad” or promiscuity equals “sex-is-awesome.”  Just because a person believes in abstinence doesn’t mean that he or she thinks sex is bad. In fact, I support abstinence and think sex is great! But it’s a gift to be given within marriage, rather than promoting it as something casual. It’s an act that’s to be treated with respect. Recently, Duck Dynasty stars Jase Robertson and wife Missy shared why they chose to wait until marriage to have sex. Jase told reporters, “We were both virgins when we got married until our wedding night. We decided to do it God’s way and basically had a godly agreement that we would help each other get to heaven.” Teaching teens respect and encouraging self-control reinforces how awesome sex really is and why it’s important to wait for the right time and the right person to enjoy it.
3. Downplaying the risks of teen sex, while calling abstinence the “scare-them-silly” camp.  We live in a highly sex-saturated culture that mocks abstinence. Unfortunately, this has made it easy for teens to embrace casual sex. Yet, there are consequences for those actions. No matter how “healthy” and “responsible” sex is, young people are putting themselves at risk of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies and all but certain emotional repercussions. This isn’t about instilling a false sense of fear; there are real dangers that exist and cannot be ignored. Abstinence offers the only truly healthy alternative.

Surprisingly, there’s one thing that the author and I agree on—the role of parents. She writes, “It also turns out that parents have more influence on what their kids think and do about sex than teachers do. Parental attitudes, it turns out, are far more influential and meaningful.” (Emphasis mine) That’s why it’s crucial we stay engaged in our children’s lives and not be afraid to discuss sexual purity. We have to be honest; it isn’t easy for teens to remain abstinent. Olympic athlete, Lolo Jones shared this about her efforts to remain abstinent, “It’s just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband. But please understand this journey has been hard. . . Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”

What’s not surprising is abortion-giant Planned Parenthood also openly advocates for teen sex. From their perspective, “The solution… is to teach young people how to experience sexual pleasure instead of teaching them not to have sex.” Their motive is clear. When teens are sexually active, they need to rely on Planned Parenthood’s services, including their lucrative abortion “services.” It’s a sick and manipulative approach that essentially fuels Planned Parenthood’s business model. And it’s even more reason we must diligently fight to protect the lives of not just the unborn, but of our young people.

The American Life League (ALL) reports that both the New York Times and Washington Post rejected a full-page advertisement as “too graphic” and “shocking” for their adult readers.  What was too graphic?  This full-page color advertisement showed images from actual Planned Parenthood sex-ed materials used for children as young as 10 years of age.  The rejected ad can be seen here: http://www.all.org/pdf/PP_HookingKids.pdf.  Maybe it wasn’t too graphic; or maybe the NYT and WP knew it was just too perverted for the common rabble to know about.  Only they know how to raise our children, not us.

In a new low for perversion, Planned Parenthood tells teens that it’s OK to swallow, as long as ” you’re OK with it.”

Direct quote from PP website (link):

Is it okay if u swallow semen?

Whether or not it’s “okay” to swallow semen depends on whether or not you’re okay with it. There’s nothing unhealthy, wrong, or dirty about swallowing semen, as long as you’re comfortable with it.

It’s not possible to get pregnant from oral sex, whether or not you swallow. (That’s because your mouth isn’t connected to your reproductive organs.) But having unprotected oral sex (again, whether or not you swallow) can put both partners at risk for a number of STDs, including gonorrhea, hepatitis B, herpes, and humanpapilloma virus (HPV). For safer oral sex, use a condom to cover the penis, or a dental dam to cover the vulva.

Just what you would tell your teenager, right?  Translated:

It’s OK to risk contracting a deadly STD, as long as “you’re okay with it.”   There’s “nothing unhealthy, wrong, or dirty” about it.  Might be deadly, but if “you’re okay with it,” then go for it.

Here’s what God had to say about it (Romans 1:18-32):

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

From the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA):

On Friday, May 11, Governor Bill Haslam signed the new Tennessee sex education bill (SB 3310) into law. The bill was initiated in large part due to parental outrage over explicit sex education taught in Nashville schools. The new law sets a standard for other states to follow.  It places a clear priority on sexual risk avoidance abstinence education. The law also puts provisions in place that will prohibit explicit sex education from being implemented in classrooms  – a first for any state. It also empowers parents to protect their children from harmful sex education through their right to pursue legal options should a school ignore the protective provisions of the law.

The sex education bill received broad bipartisan support in the Legislature. Tennessee Legislator, Rep. John DeBerry (D-Memphis) earned an enthusiastic standing ovation for his straight talking defense of the bill which  encourages youth to choose healthy behaviors.

Read the story on “gateway sexual behavior” here.  Be sure to read the entire story.  Opponents tried to lampoon the bill, saying it banned hugging and holding hands, but Rep. DeBerry (D-Memphis) stood up to set the record straight.  Watch Rep. DeBerry’s speech in the Tennessee Legislature here:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRBUL8zV03Q

In the online comments on the Bangor Daily News website (on the story about our GAP at the U of Maine), I was conversing with ChuckGG about the project and related issues.  Suddenly and with no warning, the Bangor Daily News closed the comments.  So, I’m stuck here with my reply to ChuckGG’s most recent comment, and only my own website to post it.  ChuckGG, if  you are still out there in cyberspace, this post is for you:

ChuckGG, thank you for your thoughtful reply.  I appreciate the opportunity for rational discussion.

I need to make several points, and I guess the best way is to list them, one by one.

Please don’t think I oppose sex education in schools.  There is no virtue in ignorance.  But as a parent and a citizen, I am concerned about who will deliver the educational programs and what the message will be.

I absolutely believe that sex education programs should emphasize and encourage abstinence, even though we know some will have sex anyway.  The NCHS reports that 68% of boys and 67% of girls between the ages of 15 and 17 have never had sexual intercourse.  That number is lower than I’d like to see, but I would hardly call it “rare.”  I can’t really comment on the difference between your high school and the neighboring schools.  That’s anecdotal.  A friend of mine introduced “Sex Respect” in Rhea County, Tennessee a few years ago and the result was a 75% decrease in teen pregnancies.

Yes, the proper use of birth control techniques will reduce the numbers of pregnancies.  The effect of sex education is a bit harder to measure.  If your sex education program has the tendency of dramatically increasing sexual activity, then you might well see an overall increase in pregnancies, even as the use of birth control increases.  As evidence for the existence of unintended consequences, I offered a 2011 paper by Peter Arcidiancono (Duke University), Ahmed Khwaja (Yale University) and Lijing Ouyang (Centers for Disease Control).  They concluded, “Programs that increase access to contraception are found to decrease teen pregnancies in the short run but increase teen pregnancies in the long run.”   (Source)

I also offered the experience of Carol Everett, who was allowed to deliver sex education in several Texas schools.  The result of her “education” program was to increase pregnancy rates by 50%.  A key factor was increasing the frequency at which the children were having sex.  She was delivering her “education” program in full view and with the approval of school authorities who, no doubt, were convinced that her programs were decreasing teen pregnancies.

Sex education in schools?  Yes.  Hand out contraceptives in school?  No.  Invite the abortion industry (e.g., Planned Parenthood) into the schools to deliver sex education programs?  No way!

We got onto this topic because so many commenters suggest that if we want to get rid of abortions, just hand out free birth control and preach their use.  That way (they say) we would never have to talk about abortion again.  I must reject that suggestion for a number of reasons.

1. It won’t eliminate abortions.  The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that 54% of abortions are performed on women who were using birth control in the month they got pregnant.  It might reduce abortion some, but it won’t eliminate it.  And our goal is not to reduce the numbers of abortions, our goal is to get rid of the whole bloody mess, because every abortion takes the life of a living human being.
2. I can never encourage somebody to do something that I know to be dangerous, even potentially deadly.  If I encourage people to use condoms and leave them with the belief that by using the condom, they can safely have sex with the next guy that comes along, and to do it repeatedly, then I have encouraged them to engage in reckless behaviors that will possibly result in a deadly STD.  Condoms fail to prevent pregnancy at an annual cummulative rate of 2% to %15%.  The failure to protect against STDs has to be even higher.  Condoms provide almost no protection against the spread of HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer.

I note that you and I are about the same age.  Remember when we were growing up, there were really only two STDs that anybody worried about.  It had been that way for centuries.  Now, I’m told there are more than 25.  The Associated Press reports that 1 in 4 teen girls has at least one.  What changed?  More contraceptives?  More Planned-Parenthood-style sex education?  More reckless and deadly behaviors?  Yes, yes, and yes. Of course I don’t oppose truthful education, but I do oppose encouraging teenagers to engage in reckless and self-destructive behaviors.

It’s true.  Check out this link for the audio.

Yes, Yale University has proven the sexual revolution to be a disaster for women.  Chuck Colson tells us how:

For some time now, I’ve been telling you that the Christian worldview is the only worldview that provides us with a rational way to live in the world. It’s the only worldview that we can live with.

We simply can’t live with the logical outcomes of other worldviews like secular naturalism, new age-ism, or Freudianism.

And thanks to the daily news, I’m never short of material to prove it. A group of mostly female students is suing Yale University for allowing a “sexually hostile environment” to exist on campus.

The women, of course, have a point. After all, when frat boys are allowed to parade around the old campus chanting “No Means Yes,” or to hold up signs that read “We Love Yale Sluts,” I guess you could say that’s a sexually hostile environment.

But may I ask a question? What did you expect?

The disgusting, intimidating behavior at Yale — and on many college campuses — is a classic example of the post-modern impasse. For nearly 50 years, academia, the feminist movement, and post-modern society have embraced sexual freedom as the ultimate good.

And the feminists led the way. They wanted to control their bodies; to be free from any consequences of sexual license.

Well, guess what. If you promote sexual license — especially on campuses — what do you get? That’s right. Sexual license. You approve and encourage immoral behavior, and then you’re surprised when young men don’t behave like gentlemen? Are you kidding me?

And as for Yale…What else would you expect at a university when every year its hosts a campus-wide event called “Sex week,” where students get to attend seminars on sexual practices, presentations by sex workers, and plenty of porn films?

As an aside: Parents, before you send your daughter off to college, do some homework about life on campus. Why send your daughter to a school that promotes such promiscuity?  [FAB comment: We believe in equality at FAB, so why would you send your son there, either?]

But back to my point: The women of Yale have discovered that they can’t live with the post-modern, sexually licentious Freudian worldview. It doesn’t work. It leads to moral chaos.

Where might you think such students would find a safer, more congenial environment? Perhaps at an institution that still clings to the Judeo-Christian worldview and the ethical principles that shaped Western Civilization. Does the Christian view of sex promote intimidation, harassment, and brutish behavior like we’re seeing at Yale, or does it promote moral and ethical virtue?

Well, it ought to be obvious. All worldviews are not equal. But that’s a controversial thing to say in this relativistic age. But examine any particular worldview, follow it to its logical conclusions, and you’ll discover whether we can live with the consequences.

Today on my “Two-Minute Warning,” which you can watch at ColsonCenter.org, I talk about our new six-part video series, “Doing the Right Thing.” It is a fabulous series, and it makes a compelling argument for rejecting the relativistic, “anything goes” mentality that has led to the kind of unethical behavior we’re seeing on college campuses — and in corporate board rooms and city halls.

“Doing the Right Thing” is impassioned plea — and a roadmap — for restoring a culture of responsibility. At Yale and everywhere else. Please, come to ColsonCenter.org, watch my “Two Minute Warning,” and learn more about “Doing the Right Thing.”

Christine Lefebvre

Here are Chris Lefebvre’s comments before the Knox County School Board last week.

My name is Christine Lefebvre. I am a mother, grandmother and citizen of Knox County, and I am very concerned about Planned Parenthood’s influence in our schools and how that influence was gained!  From what I have learned it appears that the parents of Knox County students and you, ladies and gentlemen who were elected to represent them, were all excluded from the decision making process that has allowed one of the most controversial organizations in the country free access to our kids, with at least some of the presentations being done without parental knowledge or consent!

Don’t you find that disturbing?

Someone made that decision and I am asking you to get some answers for us.

Who made that decision and were they not aware that undercover investigations all over the country had exposed Planned Parenthood’s systematic undermining of parents rights and the violation of mandatory reporting laws for sexual predators?

Did no one in the administration take the time to review the obscene materials on their teen websites like www.takecaredownthere.org with its “I Didn’t Spew” explicit video depicting a teen boy practicing oral sex on another teen boy?  Did even the mention of that not make you cringe a little inside?  Does it not bother you that our teens, as captive audiences in their own classrooms are being exposed to an organization with that kind of ideology?

Wasn’t anyone concerned about the obvious conflict of interest in allowing an organization that sells abortion into the classrooms of our county to talk to them about sex? And beyond that, doing professional development of our wellness teachers?  And are there going to be any answers forthcoming about who those teachers are who have attended that type of program and whether they will be able to continue advancing  that ideology in their classrooms.  And what monies, if any, were used to pay for Planned Parenthood’s professional development of our teachers?

Did those decision makers not know that PP would be recruiting our teens for their “peer counseling” seminars to  receive 40 hours of in depth sexuality training in the crass ideology that is Planned Parenthood and then  PAID $100.00 a semester after they go back to their schools and make “100 peer contacts” to market that ideology… and the services PP provides?  They will tell you it’s all about teens sharing “life-saving information” with their peers, but their rights based approach to sexual health and their advocacy for removing “ethical barriers,” their history and the services they sell are all of grave concern.  The Boston Globe reported in November that “hundreds of high school students” came to the school board meeting demanding free condoms at all high schools and more comprehensive sex education.  One student was even quoted as saying that it was “sad that schools would rather focus on things like books and tests.” This is a direct result of inculcating teens with that kind of ideology.

Doesn’t it bother you that the administration’s recent decision about this issue relied on a group of experts and does not appear to have involved board members or any concerned members of the community?

There is an even bigger issue at stake here, and that is the betrayal of public trust by this administration and the exclusion of board members and the community from this critical decision.  The solution to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases lies in more, not less, parental involvement. Something, this experience indicates is not a priority of the administration. Recently the Provincetown, Massachusetts School district approved distribution of condoms for students kindergarten through 12 stating that the district will not honor requests from parents that their children not be given condoms.  Is that where we are headed?

You, ladies and gentlemen, may not have had an opportunity to do much about letting PP into our classrooms, but I trust that once you get the answers to these questions, you will do everything you can to ensure that such a betrayal of our trust and our values will never happen here again.

Jane Bullington

More media coverage for the controversy over the abortion industry in Knox County Schools:

• WATE TV
• Letter to Knoxville News Sentinel

Here are Jane Bullington’s remarks before the school board.

My name is Jane Bullington and I am the mother of 2 children who have gone through the Knox County public school system; I am a taxpayer and a very concerned citizen.

TN state law TCA 49-6-1302 mandates teaching abstinence-based sex education and that the teaching party be “of good public standing”. I believe both of these requirements were violated in Knox County. Parents were excluded from any input into what is being taught, who is doing the teaching. Why is there so much secretiveness around this issue?  If any of us called our School Board member, or our Administration offices or our schools, to ask about the history curriculum or associated guest speakers, we would be answered immediately.  Why can’t we get any straight answers about what is being taught to our students about sex, who is teaching our students about sex, who is training those who will now be teaching our students about sex? Who is profiting from the teaching of sex education in our schools? Planned Parenthood has been presenting, and Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America; I think we know the answer to the last question.

Trusting the written curriculum depends on the honesty of those developing the curriculum, teaching the curriculum and training the teachers—and I am here to say this organization is not trustworthy.  PP should not be trusted with the health, safety, or morals development of our children.  I am vehemently opposed to an organization with documented legal violations, with an obvious agenda, and with such a gross conflict of interest having access to our students. The curriculum is essentially a sales pitch for Planned Parenthood’s “services”.  It’s called “social marketing” and attitude molding. Michael McGee, VP of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, writes about it in an article called “Social Marketing for Sexual Health”.

Let me show you something about this organization.  This national map pinpoints the locations of the Mona Lisa Project videos, done by Live Action.  The Mona Lisa Project videos document Planned Parenthood’s willingness to repeatedly violate mandatory reporting laws for statutory rape. A series of hidden camera investigations, collected by a team led by Lila Rose in summer 2008, provide the inside story about Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry and its national abuses. Despite a consistent pattern of lawlessness and abuse, Planned Parenthood receives over $363 million from taxpayers each year. This tax-exempt “nonprofit” netted $100 million last year including revenue of over $120 million directly from performing over 305,000 abortions.  Lawlessness, money, and abortions are words that define the organization approved to conduct our students’ sexual education.

In 2011, the emphasis of Live Action investigations changed to Planned Parenthood’s involvement with sex trafficking of young girls.  Here are just a few of the recent headlines:

• 2/10/2011 – DC Planned Parenthood Staffer Counsels Sex-Trafficker How Underage Girls Can Get Abortions And Testing, — No Questions Asked
• 2/8/2011 – Bronx, NY Planned Parenthood Staffer Tells “Pimp” He Can Pose As Guardian To Get Tax Payer Funded Services For Underage Sex Workers
• 2/4/2011 – Pattern Emerges: Three More Virginia Planned Parenthood Clinics Caught On Tape Willing to Aid and Abet Sexual Exploitation of Minors

Additionally, there are lawsuits all across our country, including one in Memphis, that expose the “character and agenda” of Planned Parenthood.  Here are a few:

• An Indiana Planned Parenthood was forced to suspend a counselor shown advising what she thought was a 13-year-old girl to cross state lines for an abortion without informing her parents
• Two Planned Parenthood clinics in Phoenix, AZ were caught on tape concealing statutory rape.
• At the Idaho Planned Parenthood, a caller pretended to be a racist donor who wanted to reduce the number of black people. The Planned Parenthood employee was “excited” to take the donation.

Misappropriation of funds runs rampant in this organization.  Allow me just one example:  In NJ, Audits by the United States Inspector General (IG) uncovered Planned Parenthood has improperly taken Medicaid reimbursement for family planning services for a total of almost $3 million.

Closer to home, on April 20, a counselor at Planned Parenthood in Memphis, TN was caught on hidden camera coaching a 14-year-old girl how to lie to a judge to receive a judicial bypass for an abortion without her parents’ knowledge. She was coached to keep her alleged boyfriend’s age from the judge … 31 years old.

The list could go on, but I will stop here.  I ask you to look at this map, and see the number of problems that I have pinpointed. Why is the School Administration so determined to have PP either inside our schools or influencing those who teach inside our classrooms?  What is their agenda?  Why do they promote an organization that separates children from parents? Planned Parenthood consistently lobbies against parental rights legislation.  Why are parents being left out when it comes to teaching sex ed to their children?  Too many unanswered questions—-and that makes me very nervous.

Shirley Moore

Here are Shirley Moore’s remarks to the Knox County School Board last night:

My name is Shirley Moore and I live with my family in East Knoxville. We were among the first families to join the extended Magnet program. My children graduated from Austin East.

I witnessed the storm that ensued this Fall because a parent asked questions about a Planned Parenthood presentation at Hardin Valley. Sure enough she was ridiculed in the press in a poorly executed attempt at satire. When she called the administration, she was greeted with the sullen remark:  “Oh, you’re that parent”. But I read in the plans for school reform that you “welcome parental input and community involvement.” Pardon me if I am skeptical after witnessing this.

Do I believe it’s settled because it’s reported in the news that “no outside presenters will be allowed to teach sex ed”? Well, I tried to believe it on Saturday. But then learned on Sunday that a Bearden health teacher was honored by Planned Parenthood as Runner-up for the “2007 Family Life Educator of the Year” award. This is the same person who would not claim any affiliation with them when asked recently. If the affiliation is honorable, why the reticence and secrecy?

Secrecy and deception are second nature here just as they were for the early founders of the sex education industry. Much of Planned Parenthood’s agenda is based on the ideology-driven research of Alfred Kinsey. In fact, Planned Parenthood and Playboy Magazine supported the Kinsey Institute in the early days.  Today in 2011, the two institutes cited under “Research” at a Planned Parenthood regional website are: the Alan Guttmacher Institute and The Kinsey Institute. (http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ppsi/other-links-17762.htm)

Scientists and medical researchers have refuted his dubious research for years. But Family Life Education is steeped in Kinsey mythology. Here’s Bill Taverner, director of the Center for Family Life Education at Planned Parenthood, featured on Kinsey Confidential, on the Kinsey Institute web site. (Printed web pages) (http://kinseyconfidential.org/reading-bill-taverner/)

And how did Dr. Kinsey get his own Institute at Indiana University?  If you read his Kinsey Institute approved biography (Kinsey by James Jones, 1997), one reason was, President Wells wanted him off campus, because he was nervous about some of Kinsey’s partners. It became known to IU officials that Kinsey was collaborating with child predators. Predators sent Kinsey notes on the responses of children they were currently abusing.

One abuser was Rex King who introduced him to other deviants known as the “Rush Street boys” in Chicago.  Kinsey engaged with them in sadomasochistic events in his home attic; he had his photographer commit the profane rites to film. (Also documented in the Jones biography.)

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. If you understand something about the obsessive perversions of Kinsey and those around him, you’ll understand why parents are perfectly right to question what is being taught their children and by whom.

The sex ed industry embraced Kinsey’s flawed data to support a shared ideology: Nothing is abnormal. Nothing:  Alfred Kinsey’s long-held ambition was to wipe pedophilia off the legal books as a crime. Is it really a surprise that Planned Parenthood clinics can look the other way when victims of sexual abuse come through the door?

Any parent who questions the curriculum, where it comes from, who’s teaching and who trained them is smart. And deserves respect and answers that haven’t been forthcoming:  Who brought them into the schools, who trained the wellness teachers? And why are they being allowed to continue the rest of the year?  I never realized “unsuitable” had a sell-by date on it.  If it was unsuitable last week, it’s unsuitable now, and it’s unsuitable tomorrow.

They are persistent. If Planned Parenthood didn’t get our children the first time around, they’re coming in the back doors of our schools for a second run. It gives new meaning to the phrase:  “No Child Left Behind”.