Planned Parenthood’s sex-ed Trojan Horse
The ideology and politics embedded within the Sheboygan Falls High School curriculum
The Sheboygan Falls High School sex ed curriculum serves an important function to educate youths on making wise and healthy choices. Along with facts about the human design that students need to know, however, is packaged the activist opinions of Planned Parenthood.
The curriculum uses resources from multiple sources, relying on Planned Parenthood for three of its topics. The Planned Parenthood web pages in the curriculum offer students to book an appointment for an abortion or “gender-affirming care”, and tout Planned Parenthood affiliates as “trusted sources of health care and education for people of all genders”.1
Although official district policy is to present “abstinence from sexual activity as the preferred choice of behavior for unmarried students”, the Planned Parenthood page on contraceptives advertises in large letters, “Get birth control pills delivered to your door!” Another page shows a video of couples making out in foreplay (mostly same-sex and none wearing wedding rings).
Each Planned Parenthood page in the curriculum also links to the Planned Parenthood Newsroom where students can explore the organization’s political stances on subjects like taxpayer funding of abortion.
Absent from the curriculum is instruction on adoption and the sex binary. The sex ed content should be updated to align with community values and not push ideologies.
Abortion referral inappropriate for sex ed
Abortion should not be part of a sexual education curriculum due to its controversial nature, its political stance, and its negative effects on the mother as well as its disregard for the unborn baby.
Planned Parenthood is not a resource to mention in sex ed curriculums due to its lack of focus on actual healthcare. Suitable resources to reference include those for hospitals, health centers, and other resources such as pregnancy centers and women’s health care centers. Planned Parenthood has a nefarious history and strongly biased political leanings. There are many other organizations that provide more effective and life-affirming healthcare options.
Instead of incorporating Planned Parenthood’s political views on gender identity and different forms of sexual expression, the curriculum should teach the science behind the binary nature of human development and reproduction. There should also be a focus on the stages of fetal development.
Instead of only mentioning abortion, sex ed should be comprehensive. For example, these should be among the topics taught:
Adoption
Abstinence
Pregnancy centers
Biologic science of the two sexes
And yes, there is room for conversations about birth control if it is not brought up in a partisan or biased context. It also depends on the type of birth control being mentioned.
Mainly though, the research should be science-based. That also means teaching the entire process from fertilization and conception onward. This reliance on science-based teachings will show that the unborn baby is developing and growing from the earliest stages.
If abortion is to be discussed in the curriculum at all, the dangers and risks should be discussed as well as the actual procedures. Most are not actually familiar with the types of abortions and the often traumatizing way in which they are performed as well as the immediate and long-term effects of abortion.
Pushing an ideology
The Planned Parenthood overview of its curriculum, “What is Sex Education?”, further reveals their left-wing stance. It describes how their curriculum covers the “full spectrum” of sexual behavior and how “power, identity, and oppression impact sexual wellness and reproductive freedom”.
These sort of coded, subjective terms try to sound inoffensive, but instead they introduce a strongly biased curriculum. Our sex education curriculum shouldn't take sides; it should be science-based and straightforward.
The overview also includes programming on “LGBTQ-focused programs for LGBTQ+ youth and their parents/caregivers”, but without instruction on the related science and safety issues, such as the sex binary and bandwagon effect.
There is also concern about sex ed curriculum glorifying pornography, which studies show can greatly affect the developing brain and lead to both physical and emotional trauma.
An organization that pushes its ideology as strongly as Planned Parenthood is not a trustworthy source for sex ed content in a school curriculum. The school should rely on content sources with a reputation for neutrality.
Teaching about pregnancy
A great resource would be the Charlotte Lozier Institute. They look at the stages of development and focus on fetal development, which should be a crucial component of sex education. The institute also draws from medical science to describe the dangers of the various types of abortion and the risks to the mother.
According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, “There is substantial evidence that unborn babies are capable of experiencing pain by at least 15 weeks of gestation, and as early as 12 weeks, around the point in pregnancy when dismemberment abortions are first performed. Even abortionists who perform dismemberment abortions have testified to the brutality of tearing apart an unborn baby at this stage of development.”
Another component could be the abortion pill and the abortion reversal pill.
In regards to fetal development, the article “12 Facts at 12 Weeks” stands out.
All of the major organs have formed.
The four-chambered heart pumps over six quarts of blood per day.
The heart has already beat over 10 million times.
Each finger moves separately.
The fetus sucks his thumb, with a preference for his left or right hand.
Unique fingerprints are forming.
The fetus has a face.
The fetus exhibits complex behaviors.
Teeth are developing.
The body responds to touch and may experience pain.
The brain is forming at a rapid rate.
Brain connections formed at 12 weeks’ gestation survive into adulthood.
Keeping parents informed
Some states have moved to an opt-in sex education curriculum instead of an opt-out type of system. In Wisconsin, each school district has autonomy to decide its own opt-in or opt-out policy.
Perhaps another solution is to incorporate parents more by developing and allowing a home-based curriculum that can lead to family discussion.
Scientific and neutral
In closing, sex education curriculum should balance providing important information for teens to make healthy choices with enough restraint to not undermine the advice for abstinence. It should be scientifically based and politically neutral. There is a need for comprehensive sex education, but not one affiliated with a group such as Planned Parenthood. Their politically biased views and their profiteering of abortion belong nowhere near a school curriculum. Instead, let’s focus on fetal development and spotlight other sources for materials.
Planned Parenthood content used in the Sheboygan Falls High School sex ed curriculum:
Content Knowledge: Contraceptives directs students to the Planned Parenthood page Birth Control.
Content Knowledge: What is consent? directs students to go “through the ALL videos and ALL websites found the page Content Knowledge: Consent, which includes the Planned Parenthood page Sexual Consent
Content Knowledge: What is a healthy relationship? directs students to go “through the ALL videos and ALL websites found the page Content Knowledge: Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships, which includes the Planned Parenthood page What makes a relationship unhealthy?