British Pro-Life Group Battles Government, Schools on Abortion and Sex Education
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 23, 2009
London, England (LifeNews.com) — A respected British pro-life group is battling the national government and schools on abortion and sex education. SPUC is urging the British prime minister to stop schools from being used to give access to abortion and is combating school’s instructions to parents.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has put together a petition to prime Minister Gordon Brown that points out how the government is establishing school-based health and sex clinics in all secondary schools.
The clinics are giving school nurses and advisors (such as Connexions ‘personal advisors’) a clear remit to promote access to abortion amongst schoolchildren without informing parents.
The main message of the petition is: "We the undersigned call upon the Prime Minister to stop schools being used to promote or facilitate abortion."
John Smeaton, SPUC’s national director, commented on the effort.
"Abortion is always a tragedy, and it is a travesty of parental responsibility to have schools confidentially referring for abortion. It means that education institutions come between pupils and their families," he said.
Meanwhile, British government advice reportedly tells parents not to say to their teenage children that having sex is wrong.
Beverley Hughes MP, children’s minister, says parents should advocate birth control to their sons and daughters, and the government explained that that included 13-year-olds (who are under the age of consent).
Hughes claims that if parents provide sexual education instruction to their children that they will clam up about any sexual activities and not confide in their parents.
Smeaton says the advice is likely slated to be published in Talking to your Teenager About Sex and Relationships, a pamphlet available from pharmacists that is expected to be distributed in early March.
The comments and instructions come at a time when the number of both abortions and teen pregnancies are on the rise.
"The government’s teenage pregnancy strategy is failing yet here we have ministers telling parents to give value-free sex education and even to go with their under-age daughters to the GP’s surgery to get birth control," he said.
The British government is expected to spend £530,000 on the publication.
It will say: "Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember though, that trying to convince them of what’s right and wrong may discourage them from being open."
Conservative families representative Maria Miller disagrees with the Brown government’s approach and concurs with Smeaton.
"Advice from Government that tells parents not to talk to their children about what is right and wrong when it comes to sex and relationships is profoundly misguided," Miller told the Daily Mail. "It is not the role of Government to marginalize the critical role that parents have to play in helping their children form their values."
Related web sites:
SPUC – https://www.spuc.org.uk
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