I had a bit of a rant a couple of weeks ago about how the SNP had sold out to the Roman Catholic church by agreeing to their demand that no information on how to protect themselves from other diseases should be given to girls in their schools receiving the HPV vaccination.
An example of what can happen when teenagers don't have access to that vital information can be found in Ed Pilkington's article on Sarah Palin in today's Guardian:
"Most poignantly, she will not countenance sex education for teenagers, preferring instead to preach that abstinence is the only complete protection against pregnancy or venereal disease. It would be a cheap shot to suggest that this week's bombshell revelation that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is herself pregnant was Palin's comeuppance.
But it would not be unfair to point out that Alaska has the highest per capita incidence of chlamydia in the country, and that the rate of teenage pregnancies across the US, including within her state, has just risen for the first time in 14 years - a trend many blame on George Bush's preferment of abstinence-only education. "It's frustrating we aren't doing more to inform our children," said Brittany Goodnight of the Alaska branch of Planned Parenthood."
So, Shona Robison, this is potentially what you have let us in for - our teen pregnancy rate is already too high and you may have just made it worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment