Media Release 13 November 2013
The Hawkes Bay District Health Board is providing teenagers as young as 12 with free condoms with the objective of reducing teenage pregnancies and abortions. The scheme has not yet been evaluated and may be introduced nationally. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the Western world. There were 6,000 teenagers who were pregnant in 2012. This is a very serious social problem. The Abortion Supervisory Committee reported to Parliament in its 2012 report, that 4,470 women who had an abortion in 2011 were relying on condoms at the time of the conception of their unborn child.
This program is not only morally bankrupt, but is the end point of a society that instead of promoting policies that seek to protect teenagers from the harm that accompanies early sexual contact it actually promotes that harmful behaviour. Let’s look at what is happening. The State, with the encouragement of Family Planning is giving teenagers the false message that it is acceptable for them engage in sexual intercourse with who ever they like. It is a green light for them saying in effect ‘It is your right to choose to be promiscuous and your parents have no right to know and you don’t need their consent’. This is simply politically correct social insanity.
A sub-committee of the Taranaki District Health Board has recommended that the morning after pill be free at pharmacies for those between 12 and 24 years of age. It also recommended that the costs of contraception at general practices be reduced and that education for youth about healthy sexuality be provided. The objective of these measures was to reduce the very high teenage pregnancies in Taranaki and was part of the development of Taranaki’s [youth] health strategy.