Many people believe that increased sex education in schools will reduce teen pregnancies. But Robert Ruff says in Aborting Planned Parenthood, “The net effect is to aggravate the teen pregnancy problem by increasing the number of teens who are sexually active.” He notes that contraceptive-oriented sex-ed courses are correlated with an astounding 50 per cent higher rate of teen promiscuity. More sexual activity inevitably leads to increases in unmarried pregnancy, abortion, and health and societal problems.

Even Planned Parenthood statistics confirm this. A 1986 study by the PP-connected Alan Guttmacher Institute said that the average sexually active single woman practising condom-based contraception has an 11 per cent chance of getting pregnant in any given year. But that’s only part of the picture. Ruff points out that over a five-year period, about half of such women will have at least one pregnancy. Among teens, 18 per cent will have a pregnancy within one year, 64 per cent in five years and 87 per cent in 10 years.

To put it another way: a girl who begins having sex with condoms at age 15, has an up to 87 per cent chance of getting pregnant at least once by age 25, and nearly a 60 per cent chance of having two or more pregnancies.

Should the same condom-trusting girl remain sexually active but not marry until age 35 (as many do today), she has a 90 per cent chance of one or more pregnancies, a 65 per cent chance of two or more, a 37 per cent chance of three and a 16 per cent chance of four or more.

For most single women, each such situation leads directly to abortion. Consider the impact of doubling the number of sexually active women.

Birth control does not make conception impossible, just somewhat less likely at any given time. Regardless of the contraceptive method used, sooner or later people who have sexual intercourse will get pregnant. An American study in 1995 reported 2,157,473 conceptions due to “contraceptive failure.” It put teen condom failures (pregnancies) at 14-72 per cent.

By the time a modern Canadian child is 12, indoctrination in amoral and immoral sexual attitudes is well advanced. At 15, many are already experimenting sexually. When parents hold their newborn child, they seldom realize they have only 120 to 150 precious months to impart wholesome moral values to last a lifetime. For most of that time, they will have to continually counter the systematic implantation of alien doctrines and values.

The battle for the minds and souls of our children is fiercer than most of us realize. “Planned Parenthood understands this battle in ways that its opposition does not,” Ruff says. That “opposition” is largely comprised of parents and grandparents who, because of their deep love for their children and grandchildren, are in the best position to confront this modern Goliath. Like David, they need to prepare wisely. Here are some steps to take.

  • Connect with other concerned parents and grandparents. If only one other person joins you, you can be an action group or task force. Prepare to face Goliath. Act now, not in the distant future, but this month. This summer. This coming school year.
  • Pray fervently for guidance, strength, understanding, direction and courage.
  • Good-hearted people everywhere (including priests, sisters, ministers, doctors, nurses, teachers and pro-lifers) have bought into the PP propaganda. Take time to determine whether you yourself have accepted that world view.
  • Together, become informed. Read. Search the internet. Study books about (and by) Planned Parenthood. Learn what to watch for.
  • Assess and critique what you read and what you hear, regardless of the source.
  • Debate and argue and study together. Develop the wording and explanations and arguments you need to convince others outside your little group.
  • Study the strategies PP uses. Learn to recognize them. Watch for opportunities to turn them around and use them for good. Develop your own strategies.
  • Together, develop ways to put a wholesome, creative pro-life, pro-chastity spin on family activities this summer.
  • Decide what issues to fight in the new school year. Develop ideas on effective approaches. Four families complaining to the school in sequence are more effective than a single letter with four signatures. Three calls to the radio station have more effect than one. Bringing in a good speaker may reach many people.
  • Enlist the help of your older children in protecting the younger ones. Honour their intelligence and increasing maturity by including them in your study program and strategy development. They will enrich your efforts and be informed and enriched in turn.