Various pro-life, pro-choice, political, church-related and other groups and individuals continue to register their comments on the recent ban on abortion in South Dakota. Some say that the timing is not right. Others say that it is a threat to women's health. Still others praise it endlessly knowing that it will eventually end up in the Supreme Court with a chance for the court to revisit and hopefully overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
We cannot forget that much of the reason why the SD ban was such a glowing success was because last year, they conducted a task force study on abortion, which was submitted to the governor and legislature in December 2005. A key group in making this task force happen was South Dakota Right to Life, and you can download the 70+ page report from their site.
With my area of interest being contraception, I was most interested in the last footnote on the last page of the document. It's long winded, but worth quoting in full. They began by making one of the 14 recommendations in order to "lessen the loss of life and harm caused by abortion" a call for sexuality education that "include[s] a definition of sexual abstinence and a statement that abstinence education in South Dakota is to exclude contraceptive-based sexuality education." They call this a part of "character development education" (and rightly so).
Here is the text of the footnote (footnote number 50) that immediately followed:
Although the Task Force was not mandated to discuss and make recommendations regarding sexuality education, this issue was brought to the attention of the Task Force throughout the testimony, and was discussed extensively. It is clear that sexuality education and abortion are undoubtedly connected. We find that abstinence until marriage education based upon character development is foundational in decreasing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. The state of South Dakota through its various entities has campaigned to educate our youth to "Just Say No" to harmful activities, such as smoking and drugs, and if the minor is participating in such a harmful activity to simply stop. This message given to our youth is clear, concise, and without contradictions. We find that almost everyone can agree that sexual activity for minors is harmful. To promote a message of "comprehensive sex education" (i.e. sex education based upon the promotion of contraception) is confusing and dangerous. It is inconsistent with the message of "Just Say No" since abstinence from sexual activity is the only completely reliable means of preventing pregnancy and disease. The message communicated to youth by contraceptive-based sex education is that they are not capable of controlling their emotions and instincts, thus the need for contraception. Further, contraceptive sex education instills a mentality that abortion is a "back up" for failed contraception, thus the promotion of "emergency contraception" drugs which can act as early abortifacients.No objective studies of contraceptive sex education programs have proven to result in the reduction of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. Conversely, studies have shown that contraceptive sex education results in an increase in sexual activity.
Notice that they point out the irony between the "just say no" campaigns for drugs and alcohol, but self-destructive behavior such as pre-marital sex is not only tolerated, but encouraged through contraception-based education, which the task force calls "confusing and dangerous." Notice what they say: "The message communicated to youth by contraceptive-based sex education is that they are not capable of controlling their emotions and instincts, thus the need for contraception." Clearly through all of their contraception based sex education, the Planned Parenthood is not looking to prevent pregnancies, but as Jim Sedlak of STOPP says, they are looking to sexualize our children.
It's called "sexuality education" which should include an honest explanation of God's meaning for human sexuality based on how we are created, but the Planned Parenthood, SIECUS and others have twisted it's meaning so that everyone know thinks it means instructions on how to have sex with no strings attached, as often as you'd like, with anyone or no one. That is not what sex is, and when kids are taught that in schools, that's not only a perversion of human sexuality, but a prevision of education itself.
The SD task force also calls contraception-based sex education to task on the fact they it in fact does not decrease unplanned pregnancy or abortion precisely because it increases sexual activity at a younger age. Looking at the statistics, it is clear that not only has teen pregnancy and abortion skyrocketed since the lat 1960s, but so have sexually transmitted disease. Once called venereal disease, they became known as sexually transmitted disease as premarital and extramarital affairs became more commonplace. In order to downplay the fact that no chemical contraceptive prevents STD's, the Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers now call them sexually transmitted infections in order to make these diseases sound less scary and less taboo.
So, if this task force and subsequent report can lead to the banning of abortion in South Dakota, perhaps it can lead to the banning of Planned Parenthood's twisted ideology being taught in our schools and funded with our tax dollars.
SD was a disaster for democracy and the rule of law, allegedly the basis of our great country.
Roe v Wade was the disaster for democracy by taking this issue out of the hands of the people.
There's a really heated debate going on over here about the South Dakota ruling and the legitimacy of Roe v. Wade. But, we need a bigger conservative presence in the dialgoue.