Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 61(4) November 2011, 34-35
Just Five Questions: About the work of Life with the Government’s Sexual Health Forum
The pro-life charity LIFE has been given a seat in the new sexual health
forum. Earlier this year, Life was invited to the government’s sexual health
forum. This drew ferocious criticism from pro-abortion groups including some who
found themselves excluded from the working group. A few other pro-Life groups
were unhappy at the possibility of cooperation with a government policy that is
seen as misguided and unable to achieve its aims. We interviewed Stuart Cowie,
who is the LIFE representative, and present his answers to our five questions.
Q: Can you tell us how your appointment came about?
A: The Government reported that it is "an absolute priority" to lower the
rate of abortion in the UK. The Department of Health in turn saw sense to invite
us onto the core forum.
Q: What is the aim of the sex education forum?
A: The Group provides a national forum for the Department of Health and key
stakeholders in the sexual health and HIV field to consider policy developments.
Q: A cursory reading of the list of other members (Brook, the Family
Planning Association, the Terrence Higgins Trust etc) suggests that you are on
your own. Is there not a hint of tokenism here?
A: This point has been made by a cross party group of MPs who have signed EDM
1918 which asks for more pro-life representation at this forum but I could be
more persuaded by the tokenism argument if we were not core members of the group
with some power to influence future policy. What I am there to say is not
obscure but mainstream and will resonate with parents, doctors and other health
care professionals.
Q: Why have current sex education programmes failed to reduce rates of teenage pregnancy?
A: Because they are based on a misguided premise, namely that all young
people are having sex. This leads to a normalising of sexual activity in younger
people driven by those in authority. The ‘wait until you are ready’ message
gives license to underage sexual behaviour. We believe that young people should
be given information about delaying sexual activity and the importance of love
and commitment. It is all about how the establishment demonstrates its respect
for young people. Omission of the ideal context for sexual relations has been
short sighted and sends confusing messages to people during an already confusing
time of life.
Q: But it is claimed that teenage pregnancy rates are lower in the Netherlands due to earlier and more explicit sex education?
A: However, in "Deconstructing the Dutch Utopia," Joost Van Loon has shown that this statement is simplistic. The decline in teenage conception rates started before the introduction of sex education. The introduction of sex education has not resulted in lower conception rates. Most importantly, there are large differences in the types of sex education in Dutch schools. The study further shows that where there are stable families, the children are less likely to engage in sexual activity.