American Academy of Pediatrics --WHY?

Its time adults ask WHY? Why would doctors who treat the babies and children of this country formulate a teen pregnancy policy that isolates one consequence of sexual behavior from all others? Are they unaware of the other dangers of STD and HIV, reading only alerts to SIDS and fetal alcohol syndrome? Are their patients too young for them to care that a girl could lose her fertility to an STD before she can fully comprehend what that means? Afterall, she'll be somebody else's patient by then! Why would they look upon sex only in its isolated physical dimension? Are they only treating illness now and not patients? Don't they care that physically, mentally, and emotionally immature children can carry scars of their sexual behavior well into adulthood affecting themselves and their ability to form loving relationships? To insure that all teens have access to birth control, does that now mean parents will be kept out of appointments and consultations at the pediatricians' offices as they are at the gynecologists' just in case the subject of sex arises? Will this be another cadre of doctors placing themselves between parents and their children's health?

Why would doctors be advised by their professional association that counseling their young patients to be sexually abstinent is no longer their role? What makes that different than counseling them to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, not to smoke or drink alcohol or do drugs? Why is sexual abstinence an "ideology" and not sound medicine? Does it harm you? Does it cause you to get pregnant? Will you get an STD as a teenager because you don't partake in sexual exploration? Does taking birth control pills or injecting chemicals or excess hormones into pubescent girls make sound medical practice? Does any of this make sense? Are we at the point where we can swallow without question the opinion that artificially altering our girls so they can play around is superior to teaching them to respect their womanhood and enpowering them to seek real love and respect from the boys they meet?

WHATS THE MATTER WITH US?

Hopefully, the decision to make this a page one story was to raise those questions and not to give abstinence supporters another ridiculous battle to wage and our kids one fewer chance to become the best adults they can be.