Jane Jimenez
April 4, 2005
Tina’s small table was inconspicuous in the back of the conference room. Filled with brochures, posters and business cards, she was looking forward to sharing information about her abstinence program.
But, at the end of the day, packing to go home, she shared her frustration with me. Here she was at a conference dedicated to problems caused by teen sex. It had seemed reasonable to think that nurses and teachers would want her information. Instead…she spent the entire day defending herself and the notion that teens could and should remain sexually abstinent until marriage.
At every turn, sexual restraint and abstinence are being challenged. The Department of Health and Human Services has just launched a new website that helps parents promote abstinence to their children as “the healthiest choice.” We should be thankful. Instead the director of HHS must defend himself against attacks from the ACLU and gay rights groups.
On today’s news, reporters discuss candidates under consideration as the new Catholic pope. They point out that some people are enthusiastically hoping for a pope who will “modernize the church”…a pope who will withdraw opposition to abortion, birth control, premarital sex, and divorce. In essence, from his place in heaven, Pope John Paul II, must defend himself.
This week, an uncommon convergence of news stories gives shape to an ethic that has come to dominate our land. America’s heart can be best be known by making a list of the beliefs and behaviors we oppose, by cataloging the great offenses that make us angry.
Maybe, instead of rejecting sexual abstinence, gay activists could speak out in loud and clear voices…not to mention angry and indignant voices…opposing individuals and organizations such as NAMBLA who advocate adult-child sex. What a wonderful sight it would be to see a sit-in of gay leaders blocking access to bookstores that sell the two-volume book set, Loving Boys.
Or…when is the National Organization for Women going to take on the media and demand a return to respect for women…real respect? Why did NOW pass up the chance to give a good tongue-lashing to NBC, Terrell and Nicolette over the prime-time striptease on Monday Night Football? If anyone should defend himself, why not start with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue?
Where are the class action attorneys when you really need them? No matter how much “protection” Planned Parenthood educators promise with a condom, there is no denying that the unacceptable incidence of genital herpes infections – accurately labeled an epidemic by experts – is due to the failure of condoms to protect. Where is the attorney to represent the thousands of students betrayed by educators who labeled condoms “safe sex”?
What about journalists wedded to promotional packets put out by the ACLU, NARAL and Planned Parenthood, reporters who do not take the time to educate themselves and write about the basics of sexually transmitted diseases and fetal development? Shouldn’t they have to offer a defense of their news stories filled with inaccuracies and bias for the sake of advancing the politics of these organizations?
The ACLU has a long history of spending millions supposedly to oppose injustice and defend our rights. Maybe they could defend the right of helpless pre-born babies to make it through the birth canal in one whole piece, living and breathing as they were created to be. Isn’t this a choice worth defending, the choice to be born alive?
And at the top of the defenseless mob are the judges who pass themselves off as arbiters of justice and sound reasoning. Is there any serious person in America, much less a Supreme Court Justice, who can truly defend the notion that we are unable to determine the moment when life begins?
Defending the indefensible is big business in America. We have an intricate set of laws, complete with elections, judges, courts and attorneys. But it will all come to naught unless we can fix what is truly wrong with us…the list of things that make us angry…and those that don’t.
July 2, 2004: Abused by Freedom
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right. –Confucius