By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
MEXICO CITY, May 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The government of Mexico City will begin distributing a free text to high schools and universities that teaches students about abortion as an “option” available to them in the nation’s Federal District, according to local news reports.
Mexico City’s Secretary of Education, Axel Didriksson, admitted that the text is likely to create controversy, and pointed to such topics as abortion, homosexuality, and contraception as examples.
“It’s a book of prevention, teaching, and learning with respect to the development of the sexuality of young people and it addresses everything,” Didriksson told the newspaper Cronica.
Legislators from the opposition National Action Party (PAN), who are generally opposed to abortion, objected to the distribution of the book, especially given the fact that the constitutionality of Mexico City’s abortion decriminalization law, passed in 2007, is currently being adjudicated by the Supreme Court.
Deputy Antonio Zepada Seguro told the newspaper El Informador that the city government hadn’t revealed the contents to legislators, and hadn’t mentioned the insertion of content about abortion.
“We don’t know how seriously they will address sexuality topics, we don’t know how much the publication will cost, nor how many copies they intend to print,” he said. He denounced the “opacity” of the process and the “irresponsibility” of including the topic of abortion.
However, Cronica reports that Mexico City’s government has printed 700,000 copies, to be distributed primarily to the city’s public high schools. The rest will be distributed to universities.