Friday, September 21, 2012

Contracepting the World's Youth

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For the past several years, a coalition of international organizations has sponsored World Contraception Day (WCD) on September 26. The goal of the organizers, which include the largest abortion providers in the world and the American taxpayer-funded United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is to target young people (including teenagers) with "unbiased information about contraception."

This year the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is joining International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Marie Stopes International (MSI), USAID, Bayer Pharmaceuticals and the other WCD sponsors in indoctrinating young people around the world with an anti-life contraceptive mentality. Melinda Gates and the British government hosted an international summit in London this past July to raise over $4 billion to push contraceptives on women in the developing world. On the Gates Foundation's blog, titled Impatient Optimists, a series of articles have been published "celebrating" World Contraception Day 2012.

Each blog post begins with the statement:

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

Reading through these blog posts, certain themes become clear: contraceptives are a means to fight poverty; teenagers should have lots of sexual encounters; parents should realize that teenagers are having sex and just help them get contraceptives; contraceptives should be provided to young people for free or at a reduced cost by the government; and those who are against contraceptives are spreading myths about the supposed harms.

To those of us who can see past the propaganda and recognize the lies being told about the real and documented harm contraceptives cause, it almost doesn't seem worth our time to respond. It's just on a blog somewhere. It's just some annual "celebration" that most of us have never heard of, like national "Talk Like a Pirate Day" or National Cheeseburger Day. How bad could it be?

I cannot overstate the danger of the international campaign to contracept our entire planet; a campaign His Eminence John Cardinal Njue of Kenya called "unimaginable, dangerous and could lead to destruction of the human society and by extension the human race."

Melinda Gates and her partners have all the money and influence needed to pull off such a plan, and they are convinced that they are on a moral crusade to increase wealth and sustainability in the developing world. But you cannot improve lives by sowing death. The only way to true progress and sustainability is to be open to life and to the Gospel of Life.

The responsibility of spreading this Truth falls on each and every one of us. Parents who have children cannot be afraid to talk with them about these issues, since those trying to influence them in the other direction obviously are not. Clergy need to speak often from the pulpit about the Church's beautiful teachings on human sexuality and of living the faith in a world with opposing values. There are ways for each of us to reach the same young people that Gates is targeting and speak with them about God's plan for our lives.

Young women in several different countries recently participated in Human Life International's video campaign responding to Melinda Gates' "No Controversy" push for contraceptives. These are young women involved in their local communities who can be a positive influence on hundreds or thousands of their peers. Their voices tell us the facts about how contraceptives are controversial, and can be dangerous to use.

"Did you know that many types of oral contraceptives are classified as Group-1 carcinogens by the World Health Organization? That's the same as cigarettes and asbestos. How is this good for our health?" the young women ask in the video. "Depo-Provera and the pill do nothing to stop the spread of AIDS. In fact, they can make it worse. How is this good for women?"

Gates and her partners are right about the importance of reaching young people with information. But they need to receive the right information that will help them lead healthy, prosperous and moral lives. We have to be the ones to reach them-to do the Lord's work. And we can't wait for an annual celebration. We must celebrate Christ's love for us, and the Truth of the Gospel of Life daily with our families and our community.

Please join me not only in prayer but in action to build a Culture of Life for future generations.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

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Father Shenan J. Boquet
President, Human Life International

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Melinda Gates and her partners, including the British government and the world's largest abortion providers, have launched a $4 billion campaign to push harmful contraceptives on poor women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Mrs. Gates claims that there is "no controversy" in powerful groups and governments promoting contraception for poor women, but the facts show that contraception IS controversial for numerous reasons.

Watch the video and share the facts: