In a world where I find little that actually shocks me anymore, the following news almost did.
According to new "guidelines" (a favorite word of government bureaucrats that actually means "laws"), U.K. parents are to be removed from the loop when it comes to sex advice, treatment, distribution of contraception, and even abortion given to their children. You see, in the welfare states of the modern West, anyone other than parents knows what's best for kids. And for the naive ninnies of Britain's General Medical Council, that means even the kids themselves.
The story is covered in several of the British papers but here is the basic news from The Press Association:
Children should have confidential access to contraception and abortion and more involvement in their NHS treatment, new guidelines claim. Doctors can provide sexual health advice and treatment to under-16s provided they understand the implications, the guide from the General Medical Council (GMC) said.
While doctors should try and persuade children to tell their parents, they should still be treated if it is in their best interests or if they are very likely to have sex anyway. "A confidential sexual health service is essential for the welfare of children and young people", the guide said...
Note the particularly pregnant phrase (pun intended), "provided they understand the implications." Does anyone actually believe that children under 16 understand the implications of, say, the emotional effects of sex, the physical risks, the trauma of disease, the tragedy of abortion, the spiritual costs of promiscuity, and a whole lot more? Of course not. Otherwise we would trust their judgment about smoking, drinking, schoolwork, sex with older persons, operating motorized vehicles, and self-discipline on a variety of other fronts.
No, the GMC's new "guidelines" certainly aren't about the well-being of children. They are instead about the breakdown of parental authority, the aggrandizement of government power, and the expansion of sexual license.
Aegrescit medendo. (The disease worsens with the treatment.)
What is the one constant for abstinence? The parents', especially the mother's, letting the child know that abstinence is expected.
We're getting pressure in the American Academy of Family Physicians to keep information from the parents and one resolution up before our Congress of Delegates this year even suggests that we should pressure insurance companies to stop sending bills with the diagnosis to the homes.