On the subject of Guanajuato : Teen pregnancy explodes due to sex ed prohibition

On the subject of Guanajuato and the catholic church, La Jornada reports that in the last four years, teen pregnancies have increased by a massive 40 percent. This is a state where the catholic church has massive influence on the PAN state government and on social policy: Guanajuato's yunquista governor, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez, has prohibited nearly any sexual education in school and attempts at family planning. Reports La Jornada: "The secretary of educaiton, Alberto Diosdado... recommends students that they conserve their virginity until marriage, practice abstinence, avoid contraceptives, and reject homosexuality."
In addition, the state government sends the police to harass family planning organizations.


The church, for its part continues to fight tooth and nail against condoms and birth control pills. And sadly, here is the direct result of these irresponsible and utterly irrational policies, namely a massive and highly predictable rise in teen pregnancies. How in the world is this consistent with "family values," nominally held so dear by the church?

"Would you like to be adopted by a pair of lesbians or fags?"

These hateful words were not voiced by a nominally extremist rightwing organization, but by the cardinal of Guadalajara, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez - of an organization that claims to preach the love for the other and for mankind, in all its forms, yet that displays a level of obstinate intolerance and bigotry that is simply stunning to hear in the year 2010. The statement clearly is intended to put pressure on the Mexican Supreme Court ahead of its ruling whether gay adoptions are constitutional or not. As Mexfiles cleverly notes, it is of no little irony that the cardinal accuses some powerful "international interest" to be behind a supposed conspiratorial campaign to destroy the Mexican family. The high clergy of the Mexican church, part of one quite influential international organizaiton, are doing plenty of their own to destroy family values. 

The falangist Colegio de Abogados Católicos de México followed suit, arguing the Supreme Court is going against the "superior interest" of the children, threatening a future political trial against the court and clamoring, oh-so-maturely, for "legislators who wear pants," meaning, if you don't support CACM, your very masculinity is questioned. 

While on the gay adoption issue, I defer to a more authoritative source on the issue than the catholic church or catholic lawyers of Mexico, namely the American Psychological Association:

"... beliefs that lesbian and gay adults are not fit parents have no empirical foundation (Patterson, 2000, 2004a; Perrin, 2002). Lesbian and heterosexual women have not been found to differ markedly in their approaches to child rearing (Patterson, 2000; Tasker, 1999). Members of gay and lesbian couples with children have been found to divide the work involved in childcare evenly, and to be satisfied with their relationships with their partners (Patterson, 2000, 2004a). The results of some studies suggest that lesbian mothers' and gay fathers' parenting skills may be superior to those of matched heterosexual parents. There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation (Armesto, 2002; Patterson, 2000; Tasker & Golombok, 1997). On the contrary, results of research suggest that lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children.

Yet sadly, and tragically, the church has only very rarely, and reluctantly, allowed empirical facts to hold any sway on its beliefs and opinions. 


(More from La Jornada here)