New International Planned Parenthood Sex Guides Issued For Youth

Although no right to sex or sexual pleasure exists in binding international documents, the guide goes through a list of human rights found in international law and explains how they can be read as sexual rights. Under the "right to know and learn" includes "bringing an end to abstinence-only sex education programs and (the promotion of) comprehensive sexuality education."

NEW YORK, NY (C-FAM) - In advance of the UN youth conference later this month, the International Planned Parenthood Federation released two new publications on abortion and sexual rights for youth. The new documents are the latest part of the organization's larger campaign targeted at teenagers and older children.

The sexual rights guide "Exclaim!" calls for a cornucopia of sexuality and gender protections and entitlements under the guise of international law. "Governments must respect, protect and fulfill all sexual rights for young people," the publication states. The guide is designed as a tool to help young people become sex advocates.

Although no right to sex or sexual pleasure exists in binding international documents, the guide goes through a list of human rights found in international law and explains how they can be read as sexual rights. Under the "right to know and learn" includes "bringing an end to abstinence-only sex education programs and promoting evidence informed approaches to comprehensive sexuality education."

Comprehensive sexuality education, as defined by IPPF in the guide, goes well beyond biology to include ideology on gender, identity, and lifestyle choices. The guide insists, "Ensuring that all young people understand that they are entitled to sexual pleasure and how to experience different forms of sexual pleasure is important for their health and well-being."

The guide also contains some self-contradictions. It cites the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 5 that states, "Parties shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents." However, the guide insists that parents and the State are legally responsible for promoting a worldview and values that are held distinctively by IPPF. The guide demands liberalized abortion, self-identified (rather than biological) gender on identification papers, unrestricted access to contraceptives, and various other contentious claims.

The second publication, the "I Decide" abortion diaries, provides stories of young women seeking abortions, as well as graphic descriptions of sex, detailed advice on how to avoid pregnancy, and how teens can evade disapproving parents.

The publication informs young women "if you use misoprostol on your own, you will be advised to take the tablets by placing them under your tongue and this way, no one would be able to tell that you had used drugs to induce the abortion unless you told them yourself." The U.S. branch of Planned Parenthood has recently come under public scrutiny for its deceptive and illegal tactics in dealing with minors.

Last year, the Girl Scouts became embroiled in controversy when another IPPF sex guide, called "Healthy, Happy, and Hot" was distributed at their side-event during the Commission on the Status of Women. The sex guide, targeted at youth living with HIV/AIDS, promotes masturbation, sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol, as well as not-disclosing one's HIV/AIDS status to one's partner.

IPPF is a multi-million dollar organization, which includes contributions from the United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization. The organization has made youth and sexual rights one of its top priority areas of advocacy.

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'This author writes for C-FAM. This article first appeared in the Friday Fax, an internet report published weekly by C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute), a New York and Washington DC-based research institute (www.c-fam.org). This article appears with permission."