Opinion

June 20, 2013 (STOPP) – “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m wearing my NuvaRing, now I’m ready for you.” That’s one of the messages that was on Valentine-type cards that teens were picking up at the Oregon Adolescent Sexuality Conference. Planned Parenthood was on the steering committee for the event.

I’ve been writing for weeks now about what I saw and heard at the conference held in Seaside, Oregon, in May. In addition to Planned Parenthood, the conference was guided in large part by Brad Victor, a “sexuality education expert” with the Oregon Education Department.

The content of the talks presented to teens brought in from 14 school districts was shocking and reprehensible beyond belief. It encouraged sex, discouraged chastity by making it seem impossible and odd, worked hard to normalize immorality and perversion, and bashed Christianity. The handouts that were available belonged to the same genre.

One large poster that was available for carrying back to the students’ schools summed the underlying theme of the conference: “Don’t be scared . . . BE PREPARED.” It encouraged the students to pick up abortifacient “emergency contraception NOW!” Ironically, the number to call to pick up the pills was 1-800-SAFENET. Students were also directed to ccare.oregon.gov, a website run by the state of Oregon.

Displaying a Healthy Kids logo, the state-run website directs kids to Planned Parenthood and other clinics across the state where they can pick up free birth control without the knowledge or consent of parents. It advises them to “Turn Misconception into Contraception.” It assures them they will feel very comfortable doing so and will get the “information and help” they need.

The website’s rendition of abstinence goes like this:

Make decisions about abstinence when you feel clearheaded, sober, and good about yourself. If you have a partner, talk about this decision together. Decide in advance what sexual activities you will say “yes” to and those you will not. Avoid high-pressure sexual situations. Avoid using drugs and/or alcohol, since that may influence your sexual decisions and increase your risk. Learn more about birth control and safer sex practices so that if you change your mind, you can be protected. Emergency contraception is available if you have sex when you did not expect to. Abstinence is a choice people can use at any time and any age.

From the Ask the Experts corner on the website, teens will learn this:

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Here is one [our nurses] get asked a lot:

I am a guy, and I like sex. What I don’t like is using a condom. . . . I don’t want kids. They would cramp my style.
– Free Dude, Happy Valley

And the response:

Are you really sure you don’t like condoms? How about trying a different brand for a different fit? They come in all sizes, shapes, and degree of thinness. You might also want your partner to use the female condom, it could be more comfortable, and it’s just as effective. Vasectomy is another option—but that’s only if you don’t want kids, EVER. Withdrawal is an option that’s better than nothing. It’s not always reliable so we don’t recommend it. Best to talk with your partner and CCare (even together!) to see what your full range of birth control options are.

Also on the table at the conference for taking back to school were Valentine-type cards, with messages like: “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m wearing my NuvaRing, now I’m ready for you.”

Or if you don’t like that one, how about: “You’re like my birth control implant . . . I’ve got you under my skin.”

No? Then try: “The only thing that can come between us is a condom!”

Or for the hard-core: “My love for you is like the IUD, long lasting and dependable!” How is that for commitment?

The cards came in sheets of four, with perforations for dividing them—just like the boxed Valentine cards that young children take to school and put in their classmates’ Valentine’s boxes or bags.

But just as disturbing as the content of the many handouts was the information omitted that is critical to the health of these teens.

Under a “Protect your Health” banner was a “What every woman should know about HPV and cervical cancer” brochure. It recommends PAP tests and the HPV vaccine and points out that HPV can cause cervical cancer. It even recommends quitting smoking, saying that women who smoke are twice as likely to get cervical cancer as women who do not smoke. But it fails to mention that oral contraceptives dramatically increase a woman’s chance of getting cervical cancer. In fact, women who use the pill for five to nine years have twice the risk of cervical cancer, and women who use the pill for 10 years or more have more than three times the risk of cervical cancer. That information was not shared with the teens.

Also missing from the multitudes of materials available encouraging use of contraceptives were the real facts about the risks involved with taking oral contraception, such as: Women who use oral contraceptives have up to 23 times the risk of heart attack, depending on the other risk factors they have. Their stroke risk is three times or greater that of non-pill users. Pill users have five times the risk of deep venous thrombosis and two to three times the risk of blood clots in the lungs, compared to those who do not use the pill.

Many other risks associated with pill use and premarital and extramarital sex were omitted, leading the teens to believe that contraceptives and “protected sex” are perfectly safe.

It is imperative that parents across the nation take notice of what transpired at this conference, and the picture it paints of sex education in Oregon schools, because what you see in Oregon now is bound for every state in the nation.

In case you missed what I have written to date, here are some of the headlines from my reports, with links to the text:

Teens teach porn class to adults at Oregon Adolescent Sexuality Conference

‘Sexuality ed expert’: Laws pass when parents don’t object; says one or two phone calls can derail sex ed program

Anti-Christian rant to teens: ‘Pro-choice’ movement not radical enough; abstinence is impossible

Planned Parenthood’s war on Oregon children

Planned Parenthood is in its happy place in Oregon—snuggled up to the state health authority and the state education department.

Oregon is a model for other states where Planned Parenthood is seeking to force its graphic sex education programs on schoolchildren.

Parents across the nation must study what is happening in Oregon and then study the remedy to what is going on in Oregon—Jim Sedlak’s book, Parent Power!! It is available free of charge for downloading.

Reprinted with permission from STOPP.org