Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130523
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Since the Planned Parenthood-type programs began in 1970, unwed pregnancies have increased 87 percent among 18- and 19-year-olds; abortions among teens rose to 346,900 in 1988; unplanned births went up 61 percent, and venereal disease has infected a generation of young people.
Planned Parenthood says: They are going to have sex anyway so we have to tell them how to have safe sex. Or they send them to an abortion clinic if they do get pregnant.
Do they ever counsel these girls to give birth and place these babies in the arms of adoptive parents, many who have about given up hope of ever adopting a baby? Do they ever tell these young people that the only safe sex is abstinence?
They will listen. Proof of that was an event in Lexington, Ky., where Harold Morris, the author of "Twice Pardoned," spoke to young people about their choices today. He encourages abstinence. There were 26,000 teen-agers in a coliseum that seats 18,000. Who says kids today don't want guidance and help with moral decisions?
Our government has spent more than $2 billion the last 20 years to promote condom usage and "safe sex." This year alone, 450 million of our tax dollars will be used. Today almost 57 percent of sexually active teens still never use contraceptives. Of the remaining 43 percent, many use condoms improperly or only occasionally. That is the success rate of the experts who call abstinence unrealistic and unworkable. JANE DREYER HARDY
by CNB