14 Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 16, 1986 Letters to the Lditor | Respect for human life promoted To the editor, I would like to re- spond to a recent letter by Frances Birdsell, chief director of the Terrace Women’s Centre, in which she challenged the pro-life organizations (‘‘anti-choice people’ as she calls them) to ‘‘put their energy into ‘birth control research and lob- by for birth control pro- grams for young people.’’ She seems con- fident that if this ap- proach were taken, ‘‘the issue of abortion would soon resolve itself,’’ On first reading, it sounds like a reasonable idea. Why not nip the problem in the bud, so to speak, with preventive birth control measures (we understand her to mean only those meth- ods of contraception which do not cause early abortions by killing an embryonic human being fertilized egg)? Why not do something to spare teenagers and their parents the agony of choosing between an abortion and an un- wanted pregnancy? Well, there are good reasons why the pro-life movement does not share her enthusiasm for this ‘‘solution’’ to what is a multi-dimensional problem: It just doesn’t work (and hasn’t worked), despite the unfounded optimism of population control enthusiasts such as Planned Parenthood Association. In fact, there is accumulating evidence to show that in- creasing the availability of birth control to teen- agers actually stimulates early -sexual activity, creating more problems than it promises to solve. George Gilder, writing in National Review, documents the Swedish experiment where “‘every single goal of ‘value- free’ family planning policies promoted in Canada have been im- plemented. Sweden has every kind of anti- discrimination program; every kind of day-care support; unrestricted sex education and birth con- trol programs from kin- dergarten up. Their situation is the envy of every population plan- ning association in the world.”’ ‘But before we en- dorse the goals of liberal experts on family life and sexuality,’’ says Gilder, ‘‘we had better take a long, hard look at the results.’’ @ Sweden has double the divorce rate of Canada; @ half of all pregnancies in Sweden are ended by abortion (compared to 20 percent in Canada), despite the fact that the Swedes have a_ wider distribution of con- traceptive information and instruction than any other people; @ a third of all children born in Sweden are born out of wedlock; @ from 1968 to 1974, veneral disease for girls under 14 has increased by 900 percent; @ in the 1970s, rape in- creased 400 percent; @ as of 1985, 92 percent of all pregnant girls under 15 have abortions; the teenage abortion rate increased from 32 per- cent of pregnancies to 50 percent of pregnancies from 1971 to 1975; @ over 85 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls have sexual rela- tions before they are 18 years old. The average girl has her first sexual experience at age 14! Similar studies in the U.S. by Planned Parent- hood in 1971, 1976 and 1979 (ref. Professors Melvin Zelnik and John Kantner in Family Plan- ning Perspectives, 1980) have confirmed that a decrease in the number of teenage pregnancies has not been realized in those groups who have been exposed to intensive programs of contracep- tive use. It should come as no surprise that our Federal and Provincial govern- ments are taking a Thank you To the People of Terrace: Thanks, Terrace! On behalf of Basket- ball B.C. and the 186 basketball players, coaches and officials, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the hospitality, en- thusiasm, and hard work of the citizens of Ter- race. We are indeed grateful for the financial and organizational support of the government of British Columbia. Believe me, we know that the Games could not have happened without the government’s back- ing. But, the people are what make an event memorable. Everywhere you turned there was a Terrace volunteer who was glad to see you and anxious to help. Thanks for a_ great time, John Mills, Assistant Provincial Advisor, Basketball, Vancouver, B.C, critical look at the fund- ing of Planned Parent- hood’s activities. Our politicians may not be prepared to take a posi- tion on moral grounds, but they are intelligent enough to not want to be accused of throwing good money after bad. The proposal to flood teenagers with con- traceptive information and devices, and to pro- vide easier access to abortion, is only, in my opinion, treating the symptom rather than the basic cause of the prob- lem. . Unwanted teenage pregnancy is the result of early irresponsible inter- course outside the com- mitment.of marriage. It would seem to me that the real task is to enhance respect for sex- uality by promoting pro- family, pro-chastity pro- grams in the schools. This is not an unrealistic or ‘religious’ ideal at all, but is something that just makes good common sense. Of course it would require a co-operative ef- fort by church and com- munity leaders, educa- tors and concerned par- ents who still remain the primary educators of their children in this area. **Teen-Aid’’ is one ex- ample of a program that does work and which is gaining acceptance in B.C. schools. Terrace Pro-Life Resource Cen- tre has a 27-minute audio-visual package ti- tled ‘‘The Springtime of Your Life: Pre-marital Chastity — The Practical Reason’’. It is available free on loan by calling 635-5271. We owe it to our teenagers, for the sake of their present and future happiness, to offer them more than a technologi- cal solution (birth con- trol) to guide them through the wasteland of recreational sex. Pro-life is concerned about birth control, but we’re also concerned about some- thing more important: respect for human life and the integrity and self-worth of our young people. Mark Ruelle, on behalf of the directors, Terrace Pro-Life Education Association. Advance of Desert The deserts creep relentlessly forward, pushing more and more of the world's people into poverty, destilution, and starvation. Crop and grazing lands are disappearing rapidly for a variety of reasons, among them over- grazing, fuelwood-gathering, agricultural expansion on mar- ginal soil, and conversion to non-farm use. \_ Qu ick and easy... TERRACE / BUSINESS GUIDE by Holiday Home & Pet Care Have a holiday and have your pets, plants and property cared for professionally. 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