My facebook wall was all atwitter last week after I posted a note urging folks to support legislation before the US House of Representatives to ban federal funding of Planned Parenthood. At one point during the back-and-forth on the wall, I made a statement about the pervasive paradigm of sexual liberation that defines our society. In the manner that I wrote it on my wall, it appeared that I was attacking a friend, for which I was quick to apologize.

Make no mistake: the prevailing mindset in our American society toward sex is that everyone has the “right” to control their reproductive functions using ever-expanding chemical or physical means (read: the Pill, condoms, IUDs, etc.), and that this “right” extends even to post-conception (e.g., the “morning after” pill, abortion). The primary task of Planned Parenthood is to bring abortion & contraception to a wider audience.

Since the sexual revolution of the late 1960’s, access to contraception & abortion are seen as secular sacraments, freeing women from the burden of biology, leveling the gender-based playing field by removing the burden of childbearing. A commercial for one product currently airing asks, “Who says you have to have a period every 12 months?”, promising to reduce the number of periods to just 4 per year. And if the pill or the condom or the IUD should fail? Abortion is there as a backup, serving as a “second-line defense” against responsibility or inconvenience inherent in parenthood. It is suggested by some researchers that 40% of American women of childbearing age have had an abortion.

This prevailing paradigm against natual reproduction is unmistakable. The NYT has a blog called “The Motherlode” in which a young woman asked for advice about what to do when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant while she was preparing to enter a Masters’ Program. The NYT readers convinced her to abort the child. She rejected the option of adoption, because she didn’t think it fair to carry the child to term just to give it away. SO SHE KILLED IT.

Studies show that increasing access to contraception doesn’t actually decrease the number of abortions. Nor does it slow the spread of diseases like AIDS. Dr. Edward Green, director of the Harvard AIDS Prevention Research Project, recently stated that Pope Benedict XVI was correct when he said that condoms are not the solution to the spread of AIDS at the population level, because, in part, they fail, and they provide a false sense of security. Pope Benedict was vociferously shouted down and ridiculed in the media & internet for his comments, but Dr. Green confirmed Benedict’s statement, and even went on to state that monogamous relationships, with both partners practicing 100% fidelity, is the only effective means of stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa.

Further on the point, access to condoms actually increases the spread of AIDS, according to Green:

Condom use introduces risk; it not a form of risk avoidance, but rather risk reduction. Consistent condom use is only 80-85% protective when practiced consistently, although under real-life conditions, such as those most of us live in, condom use is much less protective. We actually knew condoms were not very effective for HIV prevention, from our experience with family planning, before the advent of AIDS. We do have studies that show how inconsistent condom use – which is also typical condom use – is WORSE THAN NO CONDOM USE. And there is a prospective study in Uganda showing that intense condom promotion leads to riskier sexual behavior, along with suggestive evidence that this occurs elsewhere. (emphasis mine-KH)

By this logic, Planned Parenthood, by working to spread contraception and abortion, merely is ensuring its own ongoing profits and business. But this is a difficult message to share with my peers, because it is so different than what our post-1960’s, post-Roe v. Wade generation has been raised to believe about sex. It is the prevailing notion of sexual liberation that prevents this message from being spread. Dr. Green again hits the nail on the head:

We cannot really blame journalists for being ignorant of the evidence, especially when leading experts keep saying that condoms are the number one weapon we have against AIDS. And yes, people including scientists are influenced by vested interests (most American money for AIDS prevention goes through family planning or reproductive health organizations.) A factor usually overlooked is the ideology of sexual liberation. Those of us who work in AIDS don’t realize how much the values and ideology of sexual freedom and liberation influence our thinking. It helps explain why until very recently, faith-based organizations were largely excluded from AIDS prevention even though FBOs run many of the hospitals, clinics and schools in Africa. It also explains the strong emotional reactions we see when the AIDS establishment is challenged.

This is what I was getting at when I wrote my facebook message.