New Stanek WND column, “Barack Obama and the sex life of 12 year olds”
I’m not naïve. I know there are 12-year-olds in the world having sex. But it’s not normal behavior. A 6th-grader seeking sex lives in a dysfunctional home. More likely she is being raped by an adult perpetrator. That’s not what I say. That’s what Planned Parenthood and Guttmacher Institute say:
The younger the mother, the greater the partner age gap…. Fathers are on average 9.8 years older than mothers 11 to 12 years of age.
I have never known or heard of a father, diligent or absentee, liberal or conservative, who pondered aloud that his 9-year-old daughter in three short years might have unprotected consensual sex, so we must make contraceptives and abortion available to her.
Such a father would be creepy, close to a pedophilia promoter.
Such a father would be Barack Obama, who indicated such at Sunday’s Compassion Forum….
Continue reading my column today, “Obama and the sex life of 12 year olds,” on WorldNetDaily.com.
Look, I got two daughters
Agreed MK and Jill!! Now, WHY was it called Compassion Forum?!
I think this argument gets too caught up on the “what ifs.” We teach middle schoolers algebra, world geography, history, all stuff that they are not going ot use in their daily lives until they become adults or at least much older teens. Why should we NOT teach contracption? Unlike “Just say no” to drugs, while we never want our kids doing crack, we do (eventually) want them to have a sex life. And So I don’t understand why the controversy in teaching not only that it’s a good idea to wait until your married, but that when you do start having sex, this is what could happen and this is how you can protect yourself. And yeah, not protected 100%, but who is in life? You drive in a car with an airbag and a seatbelt, and still people with all those protections die in car accidents every day. So should we get rid of them? Sex ed is like anything else, and middle schoolers, who are starting to have those hormones race, are the perfect time to introduce it.
There’s no reason to fear an Obama presidency. I’d even say he runs a risk of losing what once looked like a shoe-in primary.
Neither Obama nor Clinton are electable. Heck, it’s almost enough to restore one’s faith in Americans — the country does NOT suffer the political disease that afflicts Illinois.
;-)
I can’t imagine having parents that told me from a young age how to avoid taking responsibility for your actions and instead taught me how to “get rid of the evidence!”
But that is how their parents acted throughout their lives and kids learn by example!
Isn’t it “compassion” that motivates the need to have abortion as a choice?
John S,
Do you have children? Do you honestly think I am going to sit my 11 year old son down and tell him that it’s a good idea to wait until he’s married, but here’s a condom and oh, let’s practice on this banana because, you see son you will completely lose control one day and have sex! I don’t know when that “magic age” is but let’s get you ready!!
My son knows that sex is for marriage. That is God’s plan and he knows it. I pray that he can be spared some of what his father and I have gone through.
Sorry to disagree John, but I can’t even get my son to change his underwear everyday. :)
@JohnS,
sounds like a plan! Until you start to understand that sex education is not primarily about the ‘how’s’ of sex. Hormones influence all sorts of related body-brain functions and usually concern emotional life.
It is silly to attempt to teach control of emotions via rational domination …. ie. sex ed is just like any academic subject like algebra. So, proficiency means getting 92% in sex ed?
It is just as crazy to have a pretense of control by making kids into moral-zombies with mood-altering meds like vallium or some anti-depression pharmaceuticals. Then there are ‘safe’ contraceptives. Are we in fact teaching kids that such control is impossible so we will make it that such control is unnecessary.
So, you want an adult who knows just-the-right-thing-to-say when watched, but be ‘free’ to be hateful to such folks like Bethany when none can see-the-deed?
The age-old notion of discipline is bad?
If his daughter got pregnant, how would that be punishment? Would he just say, “Sorry honey. It’s your problem now.” It’s pretty obvious that the Obama’s have enough financial security that raising a grandchild in the home would never be anything close to a burden. That’s like saying if Mr. and Mrs. Obama had a third child of their own, it would be a punishment.
Carla: we tell our children (7 of them) the same thing. And we tell them early. Just like a seat belt: it becomes second nature if you use it early. Without going into all the detail here, we say sex is for marriage. And without condoning premarrital sex, we tell them we will help their friends if they get pregnant – we will adopt their babies. We tell our children if they too make a bad choice or mistake, we will always be there and we will help them with their child. We tell our children this because if we don’t give them this option they may be afraid to come to us and abort – even knowing it is wrong. And the lifetime of pain that ensues from abortion is much worse than being “punished with a baby.”
Abortion punishes women for ever.
Bill,
You are a wonderful father! I agree with everything you said. I am thankful to have parents of like mind all around our family. All raising their children with morals and values and unconditional love.
It is not easy to raise children counter culturally but it must be done!
God bless you and yours, Bill.
Teenagers who get knocked-up often launch into chaotic, doomed marriages and tend to be terrible parents.
We’ve all seen it on this very board.
…speaking from experience, Laura?
Abortion punishes women for ever.
Posted by: bill at April 16, 2008 8:57 AM
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Trying to pretend that a right to bodily autonomy and self determination and the right to make our own decisions is ‘punishment’ is laughable.
John S,
Do you have children? Do you honestly think I am going to sit my 11 year old son down and tell him that it’s a good idea to wait until he’s married, but here’s a condom and oh, let’s practice on this banana because, you see son you will completely lose control one day and have sex! I don’t know when that “magic age” is but let’s get you ready!!
My son knows that sex is for marriage. That is God’s plan and he knows it. I pray that he can be spared some of what his father and I have gone through.
Sorry to disagree John, but I can’t even get my son to change his underwear everyday. :)
Posted by: Carla at April 16, 2008 7:42 AM
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oh yeah – its so much better for kids to be kept completely and totally ignorant – ‘just say no’ always works so well with kids
No TR,
It’s better to wait until the child is ready to have the correct information from his parents, when he is ready.
It’s better to wait and let children be children and develop other aspects of their personalities.
It’s better to RESPECT children and young adults and hold them to the higher standard of chastity instead of telling them that they won’t be able to have self-control and wait for sex.
As for bodily autonomy – what about the unborn baby’s right to bodily autonomy.
Stop hiding behind this smoke screen.
But since when has PP or any other agency that promotes BC EVER RESPECTED women or children.
Dang TR,
You’re right.
I better go buy some bananas and condoms and “enlighten” my son today!! Thanks! Imagine how ignorant I would be without you to shed some light in my ignorant life.
Great work Jill.
I don
Dang TR,
You’re right.
I better go buy some bananas and condoms and “enlighten” my son today!! Thanks! Imagine how ignorant I would be without you to shed some light in my ignorant life.
Posted by: Carla at April 16, 2008 12:22 PM
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When he is 16 and his girlfriend is 14 and pregnant Im sure you will laugh your backside off at just how ‘clever’ you are.
I agree with you on every point in your column, but I have to go further in condemnation of this man. What you say is right, reasonable, and in keeping with moral and ethical standards, but it leaves out a very important piece of the issue which has been ignored in this politician’s past and present.
From where I sit, the fact that he considers Mr. Wright as a mentor makes him as equally guilty of racism as Mr. Wright himself. That he chose, deliberately, to get married in that racist church further supports this assertion, and his wife’s gaffes have shown that the both share this conviction. With this in mind, their taking and putting their daughters in this racist church is abusive to the girls and setting them up for failure, because they have not gotten a reasonable perspective of the world they will one day be responsible or irresponsible adults in.
Much has been made of both Mr. Obama’s choice and the fact he will not separate himself from that church, and much has been made of Mrs. Obama’s ideology after her remarks were made public, but for both of these people, their two decade presence in that particular church speaks to exactly what they both believe, and what they have long ago chosen as the foundation for their daughter’s world views when they are self-responsible as functioning adults. This is far more egregious to me than all the other. It is one thing to choose a course that could be construed as morally flawed, and continue on it despite warnings or questions. It is another thing all together to ignore the obvious flaws and subject your children to it because you are subjecting them to lies you recognise yet you devalue those lies because you must either do that, or take a personal stance and leave that which you know if morally flawed and wrong.
To me, it is taking his children to that church that renders him as irresponsible, immoral and unethical. One can be excused for mistakes made in the past and acknowledged. One cannot be excused for failing to see the most obvious immoral issue and subject your children to it. If he is simply unable to see that his church is not only wrong, but immoral, he is not qualified to sit in any elected office, much less one of National importance. I consider him unqualified to be a U.S. senator precisely because he has chosen to teach his two daughters apartheid in a virulent racist church. In doing so, he has taken deliberate action that furthers racism and keeps the idea of inequity alive despite its being shown as false by every legitimate measure.
I don’t consider any branch of the government as having the necessary controlling forces to legitimize the taking of children from their homes, but I think the Obamas are committing grievous child abuse in this, and at the very least, it should be debated in public.
No TR,
It’s better to wait until the child is ready to have the correct information from his parents, when he is ready.
It’s better to wait and let children be children and develop other aspects of their personalities.
It’s better to RESPECT children and young adults and hold them to the higher standard of chastity instead of telling them that they won’t be able to have self-control and wait for sex.
As for bodily autonomy – what about the unborn baby’s right to bodily autonomy.
Stop hiding behind this smoke screen.
But since when has PP or any other agency that promotes BC EVER RESPECTED women or children.
Posted by: Patricia at April 16, 2008 11:13 AM
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PP certainly respects women more than you ever have. Youre the one who insists that a 12 year old victim of rape somehow has an obligation to continue a pregnancy because of your obsession with the fetus. You couldnt care less about women. And mindless insensate nonviable oblivious tissue has no ‘rights’ nor should it have rights. Trying to pretend that a collection of oblivious tissue is ‘more important’ than a thinking feeling reasoning woman makes my skin crawl. Yes, I know you try to pretend that sex is only for marriage and then only for people who want a pregnancy and people who dont want children shouldnt have sex. I find that attitude bizarre, unhealthy and deranged too. You want to keep children ignorant under the pretense of the ‘glory’ of ‘chastity’ then when they are married hopefully the girl will get pregnant the first time they have sex and she ‘wont have to’ have sex any more, at least for awhile. I would prefer children be educated informed and prepared. Thats the very last thing you want.
Without God in your life TR you will never truly understand what it is to raise children with a moral foundation. You simply do not understand how my husband and I are training up our children in the way they should go.
Without God in your life TR you will never truly understand what it is to raise children with a moral foundation. You simply do not understand how my husband and I are training up our children in the way they should go.
Posted by: Carla at April 16, 2008 12:50 PM
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You dont know what youre talking about – your fabrications about me are laughable. You think ignorance is an asset. I do not agree. In fact, I know better. And if your children grow up to be as moral as my sons then you will have done a better job of raising them than I would have thought possible.
…speaking from experience, Laura?
Posted by: RSD at April 16, 2008 9:54 AM
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No, I’m speaking from Jill’s experience, and the experiences of countless women just like her.
No, I’m speaking from Jill’s experience, and the experiences of countless women just like her.
Posted by: Laura at April 16, 2008 1:09 PM
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I married young but we didnt have our first child for 8 years. If we’d been trying to deal with the demands of marriage and a pregnancy then taking care of a child just on what we could have made as high school graduates I very seriously doubt our marriage would have lasted more than a couple of years. Ive seen far too many women who felt they *had to* get married because they were pregnant and I have yet to see one of those marriages turn out well.
TR,
You find me laughable because I am trying to teach my children morals and in the next comment you say your sons have morals.
Until you can get yourself educated on neonatology and embryology, there is no point in us having a discussion on abortion TR. It’s impossible to debate someone so ignorant as yourself. Also, try looking up the definition of insensate – it has more than one meaning!
Secondly, it’s unlikely Carla’s son at 16 will BE in the position you describe because his mom will have taught him proper Christian values and he will have practiced living them up till this time AND he will likely have the good Christian example of his parents. ALL of these factors are very important in determining whether or not a teen becomes prematurely sexually active.
Ignorance is not what Carla is promoting – rather knowledge given at the correct time and in the correct manner, with respect to each child’s development – something sex ed classes don’t do.
Go play with the banana’s TR.
Hey, thank you Patricia! :)
Actually D.A.R.E. doesn’t work either.
Apparently, telling teens “no” doesn’t do much to educate them.
OR prevent them from doing bad things you don’t like.
I agree, Edyt. Throwing out phrases like “just say no” with no moral basis won’t work.
I am not seeking just to prevent my children from doing things I don’t like. I am trying to help them avoid some very risky behaviors and honor God by the way they live their lives.
You know, morals are relative…
Back to Obama: No, I don’t think he’s a pedophile or creepy for saying that. He’s acknowledging that, although he has told his children not to have sex, he, like ALL PARENTS, does not have a leash on his child and cannot prevent every bad decision their child makes. What’s laughable to me is how many parents are deluded into thinking their children are angels. I’ve known girls and boys who made straight As in high school, went to church weekly, and had tons of sex. Their parents thought they were pure as the driven snow and would probably post on a blog like this that they raised their children with great morals and they’re the wave of America’s bright future. Premarital sex doesn’t suddenly give you a scarlet letter that others can see (well, unless you have a nasty STI…), and you’d be surprised at who’s doing it when they say they aren’t- there’s just no way to tell!
I know a guy who devoted his life to Christ. He was literally the most Catholic person I’ve ever met. Then he fell madly in love and had sex with his girlfriend barely two weeks after meeting her. Completely his idea. Bottom line is, we can raise our children perfectly, and shit happens. Humans are sexual creatures- that’s how God wanted it, as our innate drive is to reproduce and continue the species. Thus, it’s hard to say that just because we raise our children with 100% perfect Christian morals they will stick to it at every obstacle in life.
Let’s all cut everyone some slack. Have a beer. Realize that deep down we’re all the same.
The idea Edyt is to explain to young people WHY one way is better than another. To do that you obviously have to have a relationship with your teens and you have to be there for them as parents.
So as a Catholic I just don’t tell my kids, ”
oh, don’t have sex”
In fact, I don’t tell them that at all. I tell them that some day they are going to fall in love with someone and they are going to want to give all of themselves to this person but that it is best to do this within marriage. I live this value myself. I also explain why the CC teaches this – it’s not a rule made to take the fun out of life. There’s a reason behind it.
To post what you just did is a gross simplification and a deliberate misrepresentation of people who value abstinence till marriage – and YOU KNOW IT!
Some teens will still have sex and get pregnant but alot more teens will have sex and get pregnant if we disrespect them and tell them they can never live up to the ideals of chasteness – which IS what PP does.
So you tell them “We don’t have sex until marriage because it is MORALLY WRONG” and then when they do and get knocked up they feel bad and THAT’S why they don’t talk to their parents/anyone else but PP because they feel bad about it and like any teenager will do the best she can to get out of that mistake without getting in trouble.
“So you tell them “We don’t have sex until marriage because it is MORALLY WRONG” and then when they do and get knocked up they feel bad and THAT’S why they don’t talk to their parents/anyone else but PP because they feel bad about it and like any teenager will do the best she can to get out of that mistake without getting in trouble.” emphasis mine
Not if a parent has a good relationship with a child. And many teenagers are MORE responsible than you make them out to be, Edyt. Many many teens abort due to pressure from boyfriends and parents. But many teens carry their babies to term because they know that they are pregnant with a “baby”.
When you do something that’s wrong, contrary to what you believe, guilt is a good thing. Guilt can be constructive in that it can cause us to change our behaviour patterns. However, Western society is so set on “feeling good”. Heaven help us if we should make anyone feel bad!
Morals may be relative to you, Edyt but not to me.
Ali,
Where did you read that Obama has told his 6 year old and his 9 year old girls to not have sex?
“I think that statistically we know 12- or 13-year-olds who are having children are much more likely to be impoverished.”
Jill, with all of his $millions, how exactly would one of Obama’s daughter’s become “impoverished”?
I didn’t read it anywhere. I just highly doubt he would tell them TO have sex, considering his family’s life is under a microscope. I doubt he’s had the sex talk at all with them, especially the 6-year-old. If he has, I’m sure he said “Please don’t have sex at age 12”
Jill,
Why don’t you just come out and acknowledge that you just don’t like Obama?
I have to say that you are using a very effective propaganda technique. You are using a hypothetical situation – attaching your opinion to the subject as if it is a fact, and presenting him as an immoral man who would be OK if his 12 year old daughter had sex. You take it even further by implying that he would encourage it by advising them about contraceptives. Then you take the phrase “punished with a baby” and imply that means that he would get them to have an abortion because having a child is a terrible thing. Frankly, for a 12 year old it is very likely to be a very bad thing. Most people who fall into this category are ill equipped in all respects to have a child. .
I think what you are doing is intellectually dishonest. Throughout your writing, you make assumptions and apply your idea of what he may mean when he says something. You dismiss his clarification because if you do not, you have no argument.
Let me clarify for you, lest you think I am one of those “liberals”. I am a Christian, very active in my Southern Baptist church. If I may be so bold as to make my own assumptions – based on the meaning of your words and not what I deem them to mean – you are a supporter of an abstinence only program of sex education for students of any age. You are opposed to teaching any other form that may include information about avoiding pregnancy and STDs because you believe it will encourage them to have sex.
Certainly abstinence should be promoted and encouraged, but nothing should be left out. Full information concerning anatomy, disease, pregnancy and its avoidance should be taught. To limit it to abstinence only and give no information beyond that is foolish. It is like not teaching a child how to use a fire extinguisher because it may encourage him to start a fire. Why is it that we should limit knowledge on this subject and not others?
Mankind has been having sex since the beginning of time. There is a good chance it is going to continue.
It may interest you to know that children who are part of abstinence only programs are more likely to have sex earlier and in greater numbers than children who are given comprehensive sex education programs. Children who are given full information are more likely to become sexually active at a later age, less likely to get pregnant, less likely to have an abortion and less likely to get an STD. It may interest you to know that the USA has more teen pregnancies and teen STDs than any other western country. It is also the only one that promotes abstinence only. It seems that if one opposes abortion, the best way to prevent it is to take a realistic and effective approach to sex education. Given those results, I would have to ask which approach shows greater morality?
Errol,
Ok, I just don’t like Obama, in case that hasn’t come through clearly enough in my prior writings.
It wasn’t me who introduced the hypothetical, Errol. It was Obama.
Being a southern Baptist doesn’t automatically make you a conservative, Errol.