On January 1, 1998 funding responsibility for public health programs was transferred to Ontario municipalities through the passage of the Services Improvement Act (SIA) which amended the Health Protection and Promotion Act. The SIA gives municipalities a clear mandate for funding public health services and the flexibility to tailor public health programs to meet local needs and priorities. As a result, each Region is now responsible for funding the local public health programs including the Sexual Health Program.

Planned Parenthood programs and services are funded by each Region in the form of grants and salaries through the local Public Health Departments. Today, there is great concern that PP as a special interest group may be contributing to rising STDs and abortion rates through their programs by encouraging sexual activity and failure to provide informed consent for abortion minded women.

A girl or a woman who smokes might read on a package of cigarettes. “Warning: TOBACCO SMOKE HURTS BABIES.” Tobacco use during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth. Tobacco companies are required to give warning labels on no less than 50% of the packaging with an age requirement of 19 for the purchase of cigarettes. With what we now know about the related health risks of smoking, it is generally agreed that warnings help people make responsible decisions.

By contrast, a girl or woman might find herself with an unplanned pregnancy. If she goes to a Planned Parenthood office, her chances of being referred for an abortion are very high. There is no age restriction and no parental consent required. Does she receive counselling without the health risks of abortion being slighted? It doesn’t seem likely, with knowledge of Planned Parenthood’s history of abortion referrals. One cannot find any PP literature with any warning of the danger to a woman’s health from abortion: for example, a five times higher rate of ‘surgical events’ post abortion according to a 2001 study by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. Nor can you find any indication of problems with depression, psychological conflict, and prolonged and unresolved mourning that may distract women from taking care of other health needs. Post abortion syndrome is verified in the New England Journal of Medicine. And according to a 2003 Leger poll commissioned by LifeCanada, 69% of Canadians support informed consent legislation on abortion. To be able to give informed consent, a woman needs to be told the truth about the health risks of abortion, about fetal development, and about alternatives to abortion.

Planned Parenthood’s techniques of counselling are not adequate. Their methods of teaching sex-education have failed to sensitize young women to the value of human life in the womb.

It is time for change.

What can Regional Councils and Health Councils do?
1. They can direct public funds for specific programs that include informed consent for women with unplanned pregnancies.
2. They can direct public funding toward abstinence education for pre-teens and teens.

The US government has initiated funding for these types of programs for several years. These programs are funded at the district or municipal levels. They have proven to be effective in decreasing the numbers of abortions and STDs everywhere they are implemented.

All of us have a responsibility to try to improve the current conditions. The challenge is for pro-life organizations to request of their Regional Councils and Health Councils to initiate abstinenc programs including informed consent in sex-education. Pro-life organizations have qualified teachers and nurses that are willing to partner with Public Health to facilitate these changes.

There is popular support for the abstinence message for teens among physicians and educators today. The fall-out of the sexual revolution has brought to bare some ugly realities. Abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, along with physical and emotional damage are very common and increasing.

Millions of dollars over the past years have been spent on ‘safe sex’ educational programs. In many ways, these programs have failed.

Critics of abstinence education for teens have argued it is just an agenda of conservative organizations and churches. However, overwhelming evidence is winning over a growing number of health practitioners, teachers, and parents when they learn the scientific facts.

It is time that Public Health tailored their approach by teaching more about abstinence to pre-teens and teens. It is a message that is hitting home with younger people. They are smart enough to know that the only truly ‘safe sex’ is abstinence until marriage and that is worth waiting for.

Jane Richard – Right to Life
Kitchener – Waterloo, ON

K-W RTL is currently pressing Waterloo Regional Council and Health Council for change in the area of sex health education.