Fox News: Helping Young Girls get AIDS

If I believed Satan existed, I'd swear he was running Fox news. Their reporting is worse than lies, and it is killing real children. Today's story:

"Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10"

Sounds bad, doesn't it? It's grossly misleading, but it's a snappy headline that appeals to their viewers.

But it gets worse. According to Fox, Planned Parenthood "demands that children 10 and older be given a 'comprehensive sexuality education' by governments," that similar reports "advocated teaching masturbation to children as young as 5." And to top it off, Fox quotes a Catholic spokesman asserting that Planned Parenthood's report is financially motivated because they "make money off contraceptives and abortions."

So what's the truth? The real report, which I encourage you to read yourself (PDF), starts by explaining that these ten-year-old girls (and younger) are child brides, sex slaves, and sometimes prostitutes. They live in countries where most girls will have sex, often forced, long before they turn eighteen.

Did you see that anywhere in Fox's article? No, because their goal is not to report news, nor do they care about helping these children.

From Fox's headline, you'd think Planned Parenthood was advocating that a middle-class ten-year-old girl in Chicago should be shown how to use a condom properly. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Planned Parenthood is advocating education for children, because these children are forced, by customs, economics, and poverty, to have sex far too early. Without sex education, many of these girls will die.

For example, from the article:

19-48%

Percent of young women whose sexual initiation is forced.

Or consider this (abridged):

Faha, 15, is 33 weeks pregnant. Married at 13, Faha was made to leave school as her husband would not allow her to attend. "I was sad. I liked learning and seeing my friends." After her baby is born, Faha would like to wait three years [when she'll be 18] before her next child. She will ask the midwife about contraception.

Does that sound to you like Planned Parenthood is pushing sex education on unwilling, naïve children, against their parents' wishes?

Or consider these facts cited in the Planned Parenthood report:

• In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, 40-45% of women age 20-24 were married as children.
• In countries like Bangaladesh, Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Mali and Niger, more than 60 % of women were married or entered into a union before their 18th birthday.
• One in 10 births worldwide is to a mother who is still herself a child

In fact, the report is not even about sex and contraception at all, it's about making education and human rights, including sex education and sexual rights, available to all, because educated, healthy people raise healthy families.

So what does Planned Parenthood actually suggest? A pretty reasonable list (this is just a sampling):

• Make age- and culturally-appropriate sex education mandatory in school.
• Enact and enforce bans on child marriage.
• Improve education, especially for girls, so that they aren't forced into prostitution or marriage by economics.
• Create jobs for young people.
• Create community-based support programs for marginalized youths.

Did you get any of that from Fox's article? No, nor did most of their readers. Unfortunately, Fox has an audience of people who never dig past the headlines, so their twisted story will stick.

Thanks to Fox news and others of their ilk, Planned Parenthood will be further villified, funds won't be allocated ... and more 13 year old girls who could have had a chance in life will get AIDS or have three children before they're 18, simply for lack of knowledge. It's a terrible thing, and Fox "News" is helping to make it happen.