South Africa, like many other countries, strives to be politically correct when it comes to making decisions about teaching life issues. For example, in the realm of sexual activity, It is a popular assumption that young people will have sex, regardless of education advising to the contrary. Therefore, it is assumed that the responsible action to take is to teach methods of safe sex and not abstinence.
With sex and a “condom-based education”, a false perception of safety is given. It is a common finding in studies in developed nations that less than 50% of people who indulge in high risk sexual activity will agree to use condoms. The “safe-sex” message has failed to work even in economically developed countries. Less than 50% of people who indulge in high risk sexual activity will agree to use condoms. HPV, a sexually transmitted disease and the primary cause of cervical cancer, cannot be prevented by wearing a condom.
There is no such thing as safe sex. Doctors For Life (DFL) believes that abstinence is the best and safest choice for preventing sexually transmitted diseases as well as unwanted pregnancies. Sexual education is just one of the life issues that DFL addresses in outreaches to schools and communities. For more information about sex education or condom studies, please contact DFL.
In medical magazines across the world there has been growing support for programs that promote family values. The focus on technological intervention (i.e. condoms) to prevent potential consequences of behavior fails to address the fact that the increasing prevalence of AIDS, STD’s and unintended teenage pregnancies are associated with greater sexual involvement by ever-younger teenagers. A strong call is emerging to reconsider the whole approach.
It is becoming more and more obvious that factors that influence sexual decisions are not in the cognitive realm, but in the realm of our value systems and emotions.
This value based education has been ruled "not inherently religious" by the American Supreme Court in the case of Bowen vs. Kendrick, June 29, 1988. (Abstinence education is being propagated and held in high esteem by virtually all religions including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and the traditional African Religions.) It is for this reason that the World Health Organization, in their program for the prevention of AIDS, spends several pages on the role models teaching "how to say no". Some eighteen states in the USA introduced programs that aim at postponing early sexual involvement and encourage abstinence outside marriage.
A huge generation gap already exists between parents and children amongst especially black people. It is extremely dangerous to widen this gap by presenting any message that further threatens the value traditional people place on the youth retaining their virginity until marriage, because we will alienate a large group of people who should be our allies in helping young people find safe life-styles.
t is a fine line with this trend that various industries have requested Doctors For Life to develop an AIDS prevention program focussing on the building of mature value systems and encouraging mutual faithfulness in marriage. This was announced on National Radio (SAFM - PM Live) and has meanwhile expanded to become a very comprehensive industrial AIDS program.
South Africa, like many other countries, strives to be politically correct when it comes to making decisions about teaching life issues. For example, in the realm of sexual activity, It is a popular assumption that young people will have sex, regardless of education advising to the contrary. Therefore, it is assumed that the responsible action to take is to teach methods of safe sex and not abstinence.