In the spring of 2015 my son was enrolled at Sir George Simpson school in St. Albert, and we had an email message sent to all parents about sex education classes that would be offered. At the time, I was already aware of the issues with the Pregnancy Care Centre providing abstinence-only based sex ed classes, due to the stories out of Edmonton, where they were banned from presenting. I immediately contacted the Principal of the school to express my concerns and to withdraw my consent from my son participating. I made it quite clear that I was not withdrawing consent because I was not willing to allow him a proper sex education, but rather that this was NOT a proper sex education and that instead I would be teaching him at home.
Generously, the Principal allowed me to sit in on two of the sessions presented and allowed me to give him feedback afterwards. I sat in on the Grade 8 girls and Grade 7 boys classes. A few brief excerpts from my notes:
There were some factually incorrect things that came out ….”herpes, you may end up with that for life” , ”people with HIV live much shorter lives” and that ”porn addiction changes your brain the same way a drug or alcohol addiction would” . I didn’t appreciate the scare tactics used when discussing abortion, which was only explained as a surgical procedure…physical removal of the foetus. The fact that medical abortions (pills) can be performed up to about 9 weeks was completely ignored. Then, when a young girl asked ”If I have an abortion will I be able to have children in the future?” the answer given was ”surgical abortions have risks that can leave you unable to have children in the future”. I felt this was a disingenuous answer, and sexual health providers are there to offer facts not to offer opinions. Factually, abortions have very low risk when done in safe environments and are actually safer statistically than giving birth or miscarriage, and almost all women go on to have children in the future.
We ended up moving to Edmonton the next year and I heard through the grapevine that this program wasn’t going to be used anymore (turns out it was just the Grade 9 program that was removed) and then again this year the issue came up again. Numerous new parents complained, and I emailed the Superintendent of St. Albert Public with my notes from my sessions in 2015. Today, the newsletter for Sir George Simpson went home for March, and it appears they are finally doing the right thing and ceasing to use the WAIT program in their school, and from the sounds of things, the entire district. I applaud that the correct decision was finally made for our children, I’m just sorry it took so long.
Your realize all the statements you had an issue with are scientific and factual? (save the surgical abortion vs medically induced)
As a medical doctor I can attest that all those are very common knowledge facts. How they were presented or your feeling of use as scare tactics is subjective, but let’s not cherry pick facts please.
Herpes: The issue with that statement is the ”you may end up with…” You DO end up with it for life. It cannot be cured. This points to a lack of evidence based understanding on the part of the presenter.
People with HIV now live pretty much the same life expectancy as the rest of us if on proper treatment.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/behindtheheadlines/news/2017-05-11-life-expectancy-for-people-with-hiV-now-near-normal/
Porn Addiction: don’t confuse correlation and causation. In those that have underlying compulsive behavioural problems, yes, porn can become an addiction. But in healthy individuals, it does not. http://www.complex.com/life/2016/03/adult-film-addiction-not-real-says-science
(and please don’t confuse this as openly encouraging children to watch pornography. My point is not that we shouldn’t be discouraging, but that they shouldn’t be handing out statements of fact when it’s not settled science)
Abortion mortality risk vs childbirth mortality risk (for mother) “Legal induced abortion is markedly safer than childbirth” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270271
Risks of abortion and fertility: “there is no evidence of an association between induced abortion and secondary infertility or ectopic pregnancy” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2225607
EVEN when you look at studies for surgical abortions, the risks are not related to future fertility.
Gold mining is a pretty interesting example, given that on the margin it”s responsible for basically no additional production of things people want, or net increased leisure. It”s pretty much just a cool hack where you can dig a hole in the Earth and find the raw material used to create tokens that serve as claims on scarce resources. Considered systematically, gold rushes are pathological. This might be a little easier to see if we don”t use heavy shiny stuff with a long rich history being fetishized as a store of value as the example. North Korea”s dollar-counterfeiting operation seems more like a sign that they”re kind of pathetic, than an emblem of their enterprising spirit. Your first three full paragraphs feel like a great example of the sort of focus problem I”m trying to describe. You”re not factually mistaken or misrepresenting anything or incoherent. But, there”s something about this perspective that makes it hard to see important systemic features.