Fil-Ams, the U.S. elections, abortion, and Barack Obama
Fil-Am communities, especially those online, are debating heatedly the coming U.S. elections. Supporters for Obama and McCain bombard each other with comments, responses, articles, and other materials in the hope of convincing the other to vote for one’s candidate. In a recent survey of Asian-Americans including Fil-Ams, 35% indicated a preference for Obama compared to 29% for McCain. Significantly, 34% were undecided with the remaining 1% indicating another candidate.
If the online exchanges are a crude indicator of rising political participation of FilAms, we may hazard a premise that a number of FilAms support the Republican ticket of Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, simply because of the Republican’s pro-life/anti-abortion stance vis-a-vis the Roe vs. Wade 1973 Supreme Court decision. Filipinos are considered socially conservative in light of the value place on family solidarity and Catholic upbringing. Thus, the framing of the pro-choice vs. pro-life debate must shift if Obama supporters are to convince Republican Fil-Ams to change their voting patterns.
It seems like Fil-Ams’ support for Republicans is based on the abortion issue to the exclusion of all other issues. As a Catholic myself, abortion is horrible. I am a pro-lifer from the moment of conception to adulthood. Shouldn’t we all be? I understand this point of view for Fil-Am’s support of Republicans, but I think this should be expanded. Fil-Ams supporting the Republican party because of its pro-life stance need to be convinced that abortion can be avoided by a change of hearts and an enabling environment. Basically, when women are respected more, supported, and have more access to life’s opportunities, they will choose to be pro-life. It is about spreading love, not fear and hate, or scare mongering. The data support this assertion. The excerpt below is from the Guttmacher Institute which has long conducted research on the issue of abortion.
WHO HAS ABORTIONS?
- Fifty percent of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25: Women aged 20–24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 17%.
- Thirty-seven percent of abortions occur to black women, 34% to non-Hispanic white women, 22% to Hispanic women and 8% to women of other races.
- Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic.
- Women who have never married obtain two-thirds of all abortions.
- About 60% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more children.
- The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women). This is partly because the rate of unintended pregnancies among poor women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty (112 vs. 29 per 1,000 women
- The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.
What jumps out here? One, those seeking abortions are young, women of color, probably poor and lacking education, mostly Protestant and nearly one-third Catholic. The reasons cited for abortion reflect a lack of a network of support and isolation/exclusion.
Clearly we have a situation of poverty, minimal education, minimal opportunities, a breakdown of family, and no support network. Social scientists call this structural violence. The structure of society, i.e. politics, education, inequality, etc. lead to the deaths of the most vulnerable. Yet, the framing of the abortion issue at present hinges on the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. The abortion issue has been used by neoconservatives as a cultural wedge issue to distract voters from the main issues that drive abortion, namely; poverty, inequality, social exclusion (PIE).
Bring down poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. Work to support minorities in their human development. Provide universal health care. Be more loving and compassionate like the Catholic Church and provide more facilities for supporting single moms, troubled teenagers. Support programs to strengthen a loving family conscious and committed to SOCIAL JUSTICE. Evangelize to the poor, lost souls. These are the best ways of driving down abortion rates, which will render Roe vs. Wade irrelevant.
On another level, this is not to say that there are no Catholics supporting Barack Obama. The website Roman Catholics for Obama notes that Obama promotes a culture of life. Note that his rock solid family is an example of the importance of a good family in creating a good society. In the website, Obama says;
“I don’t know anybody who is pro-abortion. I think it’s very important to start with that premise. I think people recognize what a wrenching, difficult issue it is. I do think that those who diminish the moral elements of the decision aren’t expressing the full reality of it. But what I believe is that women do not make these decisions casually, and that they struggle with it fervently with their pastors, with their spouses, with their doctors….Our goal should be to make abortion less common, that we should be discouraging unwanted pregnancies, that we should encourage adoption wherever possible. There is a range of ways that we can educate our young people about the sacredness of sex and we should not be promoting the sort of casual activities that end up resulting in so many unwanted pregnancies…Ultimately, women are in the best position to make a decision at the end of the day about these issues. With significant constraints…”
For Catholics, the Roman Catholic Church issued a document on the elections. In the statement, the Church also emphasizes that any politician engaging/ supporting in a culture of death, torture, racism, neglecting to address poverty and social inequality, among others, should not be supported. In other words, the Church calls everyone to support those who support a culture of life based on social justice. In addition, being pro-life is not only about killing the unborn, it is also about not killing men, women, and children in war. It is also about providing health care to nearly 46 million people without insurance. It is about taking care of the environment. It is about putting people first before profits. It is about doing things today that will not adversely impact future generations.
Even prominent conservatives are beginning to see the bigger picture of abortion in the United States. Frank Schaeffer, is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back. He is also the son of the late evangelist Francis Schaeffer. In an interview with Amy Goodman of the Democracy Now! Radio program, he said;
“And so, I think there’s a choice for Americans interested in this issue who are like me, pro-life, and that is, do you want to choose ideological purity attached to a party that will so destroy our economy and all the social programs that there will be more abortions, i.e. as there have been through the Republican-controlled years, when they’ve been talking about this issue for thirty years and done nothing about it for actually helping women and children, or would you rather have a president like Barack Obama, who you disagree with on this one ideological point, in terms of what you might call the theology of the issue, but whose program would practically result in a more conducive environment for families to prosper, for people to have children, for kids to go to school, for women to be taken care of? And I would rather vote for a person who’s going to do the job rather than just have the correct ideology.”
The confluence of the economic crisis, debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, high oil prices, environmental degradation, corporate excesses, racism, fear mongering, and immigrant scapegoating, among others, has damaged the country in many ways, including its global standing. The problems are indeed monumental, yet this provides an opportunity to restructure American society based on social justice and preferential option of the poor and excluded. Fil-Ams because of the historical experience of the Philippines vis-a-vis poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, can meaningfully contribute to this restructuring. They can do so when the abortion issue is analyzed in a comprehensive and societal manner.
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intelligently written article. couldn’t agree with you more, sir.
“It seems like Fil-Ams’ support for Republicans is based on the abortion issue to the exclusion of all other issues.” — H.V.
Kababayan, you are insulting our intelligence simply because we want to vote for Sen. McCain by presuming we don’t know nor understand the issues in this election. It’s like saying “tanga kayo” because we prefer Sen. McCain over Obama. When did you become infallible?
I am not Catholic but I do believe in Jesus Christ. I have many good and loyal friends who are Catholics, thank God, and I admire their faith to the point of thinking once in the past to convert. That you claim to be Catholic and put down fellow Catholics because they will be voting for John McCain is akin to persecution. Get down from your pedestal.
When a seed sprouts from a fertile soil, it is a living thing. At the moment of conception, there is life in the womb of a woman. From your own online reference above, it noted that
“In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred.”
The limited figure of 45million doesn’t account abortions done in private clinics or through pharmaceuticals. Abortions are atrocities committed on the defenseless creations of God.
I earn more than $250,000 a year through hard work for over 25 years to give my children a better future and an excellent education and to send money to my family in the Philippines for the education of my nephews and nieces in good schools in Manila. I volunteer and donate to charity organizations here and in the Philippines. That Obama would take away my American dream come true is a travesty of what the United States stands for. Why, does he want to steal my money and give it to ACORN or those who do not work and just wait for a hand-out? No thank you.
Have you even thought through of how Obama’s tax increases will affect kababayans who earn more than $250,000 a year? Remittances to the Philipppines and donations to charitable organizations will drastically go down. Because Obama and his Democrat cronies will “spread our wealth around” to whomever they will choose, not to our loved ones or those charities we support in the Philippines.
You set preconditions above to the end of abortion. What do you say if donors to your Gawad Kalinga set preconditions to say, donations of $25,000 to vote for Senator McCain? Ridiculous, right? It is just as ridiculous as you setting preconditions to the end of abortion.
@Ramon D.
Firstly, congratulations on living the American dream.
Secondly, I think your question about how many kababayan earning more than 250,000 a year would be affected by Obama’s economic plan is pretty valid. It would be interesting to see the statistics of this.
So, roughly 3-5% of Americans earn over 250,000 a year. Depending on how you classify the middle class, there’s over 25-66% of people in the US who are middle class.
Now, let’s also bring other factors into this. How many Filipinos who earn 250k a year follow your example by donating money towards the Philippines? I’m sure there are some Filipinos who do and also those who don’t.
We can safely assume that there are more Filipinos in the US who fall under being middle class than those who are upper class. How many of these middle class Filipinos follow your example by donating money or charitable work towards the Philippines?
Now, under Obama’s economic plan, these middle class Filipinos (and of course other Americans) would actually be the ones benefiting from the tax breaks and many could actually start to save more money which could essentially be sent towards families back home in the Philippines. Since there is a higher number of middle class Filipinos, if you do the math and add in those factors said above, then money going towards the Philippines or other charitable organisations wouldn’t drastically go down. Who knows, maybe it will rise. Only time will tell.
Keep this in mind, though McCain hasn’t really given much information on a “solid” economic plan, from what he has said, the rich would pay much less tax than they do now. The poor and middle class would pay a bit less tax than they do currently, BUT the federal deficit would be larger as the years progress.
If people really want to think about the future generations of the United States then it’d be obvious that racking up more debt in the long run isn’t a sound economic plan.
This being said, I don’t understand your quote of, “That Obama would take away my American dream come true is a travesty of what the United States stands for.”
Out of curiosity, what is your definition of the “American Dream?”
Though sometimes not a very good citation source, Wikipedia defines the American Dream as: “belief in the freedom that allows all citizens and residents[1] of the United States to achieve their goals in life through hard work. Today, it often refers to one’s material prosperity, which is dependent upon one’s abilities and work ethic, and not on a rigid class structure.”
So, technically, you ARE living the American Dream and although you’ll lose a little bit more money per year with Obama’s plan, you’ll STILL be living the American Dream.
How can Obama be destroying the American Dream if it’s giving a break towards the poor and middle class? Who is to say that those people “do not work and just wait for a hand-out?” There are plenty of Americans who work just as hard as you do and earn considerably less. Is it so bad to help these people out?
I mean, if you are a true patriotic American, you want the best for your country and its country people, right? Granted, there is a small percentage of people who do just wait for a handouts, but it’s ridiculous for you to assume that ALL the people who could benefit from Obama’s plan are just going to freeride off your expense. That’s an unintelligent generalization from someone who is so charitable and giving money towards the betterment of the Philippines.
It really saddens me that many people have redefined the American Dream as simply making tons of money and having lavish material possessions. That’s selfish and greedy.
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” – James Truslow Adams
Thank you A Start and Ramon D. for your comments. A Start’s rejoinder was perfect. To reiterate, my article was not to defend abortion, but to discuss the social reality surrounding abortion. May I ask; in your many years of volunteering have you been able to advise and assist any of the “37% black women, 34% to non- white women, 22% Hispanic women and 8% women of other races that had abortions?” I wonder if Republicans themselves have helped these women? If you want to end abortion, attack the causes. Is Roe vs. Wade the cause of abortions? Don’t you think it is the breakdown of family, family network, and family values? I think you have your causality all mixed up.
On taxes, according to FactCheck.org (http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/what_percentage_of_the_us_population_makes.html), 1 in 50 Americans or 2% of U.S. households will gross over $250,000 this year. Congratulations on being on the AAA list Ramon D.! You deserve it, honestly. What you don’t deserve however, is to pay less taxes than the middle and lower middle income classes. As Warren Buffet, a business professor, and other professionals admit, they pay only 16-17.7% of taxes while secretaries, cleaning ladies, and laborers pay up to 30% taxes. Where is fairness there? See http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/taxes-warren-buffett-and-paying-my-fair-share/ .
Second, a progressive tax scheme (higher income, higher rate) is fair because the “pain†of paying taxes should be equalized. Don’t you think? Do not look at the amount of taxes paid in its absolute value, rather it should be in, what Robert Reich and even Adam Smith, calls “degree of pain†or sacrifice ratio. A $1,000 tax bill to someone earning $50,000 a year is vastly different in terms of degree of pain/ level of sacrifice to someone earning $250,000. The Bush and the 1997 Congress tax cuts in fact resulted in ALL of the rich having reduced significantly tax rates. On the other hand, the middle class got tax cuts, but only one in five were eligible. In effect, the lower classes ended up with a higher tax rate. See http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0207-02.htm . Lastly, as Robert Reich has maintained, the myth that the rich pay more in income taxes does not account for the regressive tax regime in which the lower classes pay more via the payroll, sales, and ‘sin’ taxes aka more poorer people purchasing more and paying more taxes. See http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=paying_for_it.
Third, taxes, as you know, are needed to pay for health care, infrastructure, education, child care, retraining etc. These are all things needed for citizens to live in dignity. Do you think you would be able to make your money in the U.S. without the public infrastructure, social services, and opportunities paid for and made possible by taxes? I won’t even mention the multi-billion dollar subsidies that big corporations (who support the Republicans) get from government as well as the grants doled out to thousands of individuals and organizations.
At the end of the day Ramon D., it is about social justice and fairness.
On Gawad Kalinga, they do not ask for donations; and neither do I. Gawad Kalinga is about the rich becoming better stewards of their time, talent, and treasures and of the poor regaining their dignity and capacities. It is about healing relationships between the rich and the poor.
GK’s and charity’s goal is to become irrelevant as social justice is achieved in society.
Well put Hecky and A Start. The American Dream will not go away simply because some of us will have to give that back to the luxuries we already live in due to the American taxpayer. Great highways, infrastructure, etc..
SPREAD THE WEALTH! CARE and SHARE! Let’s give it to our kababayans and other fellow Americans who need it. UNITED we Stand Divided we Fall.
@A Start: I do not set up myself as an example to anyone. I do not impose my charities on anyone, I do encourage others. If you choose to live in a socialist country, that’s your prerogative. I don’t want my children nor grandchildren living in one.
@Hecky: Catholic Bishop Chaput as one of my Catholic friends emailed to me said,
“The ’separation of Church and state’ does not mean – and it can never mean – separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions. That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus when he commands us to be ‘leaven in the world’ and to ‘make disciples of all nations.’ That kind of separation steals the moral content of a society.
…
Here’s Obama’s Abortion Extremism
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.14_George_Robert_Obama%27s%20Abortion%20Extremism_.xml
…
Here’s Obama and INFANTICIDE
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.16_George_Robert_Obama%20and%20Infanticide_.xml
As to Gawad Kalinga not asking for donations – Funny, they have all Gawad Kalinga pamphlets and forms and such plus calling cards etc.
I should then report the people who ask for donations to Gawad Kalinga to the Federal Government for crossing state lines.
@All who want lecture about where taxes go: Just a note to let you know that those who earn well above $250,000 a year are educated enough to know where taxes should be used for. It’s the pet organizations of Obama like ACORN who want to hijack the elections that I don’t want my tax dollars to go to.
“If you choose to live in a socialist country, that’s your prerogative. I don’t want my children nor grandchildren living in one.”
I find it appalling that so many are trying to argue that there’s something unamerican or unethical about helping your less fortunate countrymen, and that a true patriot is only concerned about himself. Surely we all have every right to be as greedy and selfish as we want, but we shouldn’t be surprised that not everyone finds those morals agreeable.
“It’s the pet organizations of Obama like ACORN who want to hijack the elections that I don’t want my tax dollars to go to.”
An organization that “is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities” is in you mind trying to “hijack the elections”? Seriously? You rather have your tax dollars spent to pursue the interests of defense contractors, big oil, finance, pharmaceuticals and other corporate sectors et al?
Obama’s tax cuts for 95% of the American population are bad because the rich would be taxed a bit more, or rather they wouldn’t be taxed less? The fact that the top 5% were the ONLY ones receiving tax cuts during the past 8 years apparently isn’t a problem to you, as long as you’re part of that top 5%? God bless America.
ACORN – investigated by FBI because of voter registration fraud in at least 12 states, cheating weasels! Which fantasy world are you living in Riflelessman? ACORN so eager to please their god Barack Hussein Obama because he gave them $830,000 to get out the vote. Yeah, get out the vote for Obama their messiah, the killer on unborn children. ACORN must be stupid to think that they could just blame the volunteers for the voter registration fraud. ACORN leadership is accountable for actions of its volunteers. DOWN with supposedly non-partisan ACORN group! Do not mock other good non-profit organizations by claiming ACORN is one of them. ACORN gives NGO’s a bad name with their irresponsible actions and excuses.
@MaMaMiaMa
“ACORN so eager to please their god Barack Hussein Obama because he gave them $830,000 to get out the vote.”
Could you point to information describing the court documents where they have been found guilty, or is it “until proven innocent” nowadays? Of course, if they are indeed found guilty, it might cast an unfavorable shadow on some who have supported it in the past, such as John Sidney McCain III (I’m guessing you used Obama’s middle name to make it clear who you’re referring to, not to insinuate he’s a muslim terrorist, right?).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/13/acorn-mccain-and-gop-used_n_134284.html
“Yeah, get out the vote for Obama their messiah, the killer on unborn children.”
Do you think children should be protected and have rights? They should have a name, right, and a funeral if they pass away. How come none of this happens until they are born?
Main Entry: unborn
Pronunciation: \-ˈbȯrn\
Function: adjective
Date: before 12th century
1 : not born : not brought into life
2 : still to appear : future
“@A Start: I do not set up myself as an example to anyone. I do not impose my charities on anyone, I do encourage others. If you choose to live in a socialist country, that’s your prerogative. I don’t want my children nor grandchildren living in one.”
Well, I have a couple of questions. 1. What exactly in Obama’s economic plan shows TRUE socialism? 2. What’s so bad about socialism?
I happen to live in a country which is democratic and has some socialism practiced. I pay progressive taxes that goes towards social welfare, healthcare for ALL and education for ALL. Personally I don’t mind paying more taxes as my salary goes up cause I know it’ll benefit the people of this country in some way or another. Is this necessarily a bad thing? Or..should I be a bit more selfish and not want others to receive the same benefits as I do?
Thanks all for your comments.
On ACORN, the only fraud committed was the Republican accusations against ACORN. Clearly, there were no frauds simply because it was ACORN THEMSELVES who reported these registration irregularities. I’ll repeat it: ACORN was the one who reported the discrepancies. As others note, the only crime that ACORN did was register 1.3M new voters, mostly poor and vulnerable. That is democracy in action. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/13/election-acorn-voter-fraud
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNgMKPV9xQ
In fact, this alleged voter fraud is a national joke…on the McCain and the GOP. See http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6545. A Start’s pictures of McCain with ACORN say it all too.
On being pro-life, two things should stand out. If you are pro-life, you must protect life in all instances and be against the killing in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. You must also be against the death sentence and against torture. Importantly, you must be against economic and social policies that will lead to poverty that will lead to no access to housing, nutrition, and adequate medical insurance and medical treatment, all of which can lead to death. Being pro-life is pro-life in ALL instances. If there are exceptions, then you are just PRO-BIRTH. It’s a good think, but let’s be clear with the terms. Bishop Chaput and Robert George will agree with me on this point.
Second, you have not shown a direct link between Roe vs. Wade and abortion. It may look commonsensical, but it isn’t. The statistics don’t show it. For the third time I ask: why is it mostly women of color who are poor and either Catholic or Protestant that are committing abortion? Is it because of Roe vs. Wade or poverty, inequality, and social exclusion? Have our church leaders and scholars, and that includes Chaput, failed in pastoral care to these women? What has the GOP done, economically, socially, and in public health terms, to limit and discourage abortion?
Another George article discusses the intellectual merits of being against abortion. No argument there, as Caverny in a Newsweek article notes, especially in an ideal world. Robert George and others like him, however, have NO recommendations and are in fact, SILENT, on economic and social policies that will reduce abortion.
Chaput, George, and GOP’s INACTION on poverty, social exclusion, and family breakdown, which characterize women seeking abortion is glaring.
You should NOT be condoning this.
@Hecky: “the only crime that ACORN did was register 1.3M new voters, mostly poor and vulnerable.”
Not true sir. They claimed 1.3M new voter registrations, but initial tally after all the Mickey Mouses and starting line ups of football teams and other irregularities, it amounted to less than 390,000. And that number may be lessened still because many names on those registered by ACORN do not match DMV nor SS records.
You write very well, sir, but I beg to disagree with your take on abortion. 45 million abortions vs. 4.5 million killed in genocides, holocausts, wars etc is not a level scale. And if others put me down because I will vote for a pro-life anti-abortion candidate, I will tell them that what matters most to me is how God will judge me when my time comes.
@Angel, could you please clarify where you obtained the figure of “4.5 million killed in genocide, holocausts, wars etc?”
Thank you Angel for your comments.
You must be referring to the NYTimes article, which ProjectVote has contested here at http://projectvote.org/index.php?id=80&tx_ttnewstt_news=2668&tx_ttnewsbackPid=75&cHash=033c1815eb. To quote; “In our interview with the Times we explained that roughly 35 percent of our registrants are expected to be brand-new voters, and another 35 percent will be Americans who needed to update their registrations. Perhaps another 30 percent will be incomplete, will fail to match in government systems, or will be from people who did not realize they were already registered. Less than 1-2 percent will turn out to be deliberately falsified by canvassers.” Any charges against ACORN/ProjectVote are based on reports made by them, which have been distorted.
Second, you misread my point on abortion and killing. I reiterate, if you are against abortion, you must also be against killing. You cannot be against one and condone the other. Worse, you cannot be SILENT and NOT ACT on the other. That is the bottomline. Pro-life is not only being Pro-Birth.
The fundamental question is, how do you reduce abortion? Is it by overturning Roe vs. Wade only? If so, show me the facts.
Or is it by reducing poverty, inequality, and social exclusion? Studies show that it is through this. Even the Beatitudes say this.
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/PUBLICATIONS/factsheet/fsest.htm
“The study tour participants – policy makers, researchers, youth serving professionals, foundation officers, and youth – have found that this trilogy of values underpins a social philosophy regarding adolescent sexual health in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Each of the three nations has an unwritten social contract with youth: “We’ll respect your right to act responsibly and give you the tools you need to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.â€
In France, Germany, and the Netherlands, two things create greater, easier access to sexual health information and services for all people, including teens. They are: 1) societal openness and comfort in dealing with sexuality, including teen sexuality; and 2) pragmatic governmental policies. The result – better sexual health outcomes for French, German, and Dutch teens when compared to U.S. teens.”
“It has been estimated that the public costs associated with teen birth in the United States were at least $9.1 billion in 2004, an annual average cost of $1,430 per child born to a teen mother. [17]
Therefore, if the U.S. could reduce its teen birth rate to equal that of France, Germany or the Netherlands, it would save significantly on public funds expended to support families begun by a teen birth.”
“Adults in France, Germany, and the Netherlands view young people as assets, not as problems. Adults value and respect adolescents and expect teens to act responsibly. Governments strongly support education and economic self-sufficiency for youth.
Research is the basis for public health policies to reduce unintended pregnancies, abortions, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Political and religious interest groups have little influence on public health policy.
A national desire to reduce the number of abortions and to prevent sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, provides the major impetus in each country for ensuring easy access to contraception and condoms, consistent sex education, and widespread public education campaigns.
Governments support massive, consistent, long-term public education campaigns, through the Internet, television, films, radio, billboards, discos, pharmacies, and health care providers. Media is a respected partner in these campaigns. Campaigns are direct and humorous and focus on both safety and pleasure.
Youth have convenient access to free or low-cost contraception through national health insurance.
Sex education is not necessarily a separate curriculum and is usually integrated across school subjects and at all grade levels. Educators provide accurate and complete information in response to students’ questions.
Families have open, honest, consistent discussions with teens about sexuality and support the role of educators and health care providers in making sexual health information and services available to teens.
Adults see intimate sexual relationships as normal and natural for older adolescents, a positive component of emotionally healthy maturation. At the same time, young people believe it is ‘stupid and irresponsible’ to have sex without protection. Youth rely on the maxim, ‘safer sex or no sex’.
Society weighs the morality of sexual behavior through an individual ethic that includes the values of responsibility, respect, tolerance, and equity.
to quote Mang Tomas:
barack hussein obama, WE REBUKE YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
barack hussein obama, WE REBUKE YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
barack hussein obama, WE REBUKE YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
AMEN.