The young are not ready for the kind of sex education advocated in schools, according to pro-life missionary Ligaya A Acosta, who is currently on a visit to Sabah.

Sex education sows confusion in young minds about the validity of the concept of what is right and wrong, she said. "If you put your car keys on the table, don't you think that the children would go driving?"

This was her message yesterday to counsellors, parents and youth leaders of the Sabah Catholic Group, in a follow-up to an earlier talk entitled,"Love, Sex and Marriage" at the Sacred Heart Parish during the Malaysia Day weekend in Kota Kinabalu.

"Sex education promotes only one moral absolute - the use of NONE contraceptives and that too, without cautioning users of the horrible consequences," said Acosta. "We (the church) are not only strongly against contraceptive pills but also against condoms and IUDs (intra-uterine devices), because children will experiment with them."

Acosta is executive director of Asia-Oceania Region of Human Life International (HLI) Pro-Life Missionaries to the World, the regional chapter of a United States -based organisation .

Those who promote contraceptives and sterilisation services, Acosta continued, are not pro-life.

She surprised listeners with the disclosure that IUDs have been banned in the US a long time ago because of their "abortifacient effect". This means IUDs cause constant inflammation and infection in the uterus and can perforate the womb.

"Educators are already starting comprehensive sex education programmes with children from age five to 12 years," she lamented. "The children are not interested in sex during this period, for this is when their creativeness and potentials should be nurtured and harnessed."

The missionary noted that when reproductive health aspects are taught, the fallopian tube has to be shown along with drawings of the reproductive organs and explanations on what takes place.

'Do not disturb young children'

This leads children to conclude that the real message going out to them is one of exploration and experimentation, she said. "We think that telling young children that this is how it's done is an evil approach, knowing that their curiosity will be aroused to venture further."

She urged that educators "not to disturb young children" with comprehensive sex education programmes at their tender age. Any such programmes being currently conducted should be stopped immediately, she stressed.

Instead, Acosta suggested that educators focus on teaching children at a suitable age the value of chastity, the sanctity of sex and the truth about human sexuality and not sex education.

Sex education itself, she cautioned, should be undertaken by parents since they know their children best.

"This should be a gradual approach. Parents would know what to do and how much to impart at any one point and over the years," she said. "Parents don't have to tell their children everything, not like what they do in schools where there is no consideration for their level of development."

Apparently, countries that eventually legalised abortion first started with comprehensive sex education, followed with the promotion of contraception methods. The US, for example, legalised abortion in 1973, Acosta cited as a case study.

She noted the "fruits of the sexual revolution" in the US: An 800 percent increase in abortions; 133 percent increase in divorce; 214 percent increase in the suicide rate; 475 percent increase in illegitimate births; 500 percent increase in child abuse; 214 percent increase in single-parent families; 245 percent increase in venereal diseases; and 279 percent increase in "live-in" partnerships.

Part of Acosta's talk was devoted to the role of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) which she described as "the number one abortionist organisation in the world", which promoted sexual and reproductive health in schools, leading to increases in unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

'Deceptive terms' that are not about health

The language of the IPPF, she said, used deceptive terms like "reproductive health", which is not about health at all but to market the idea of abortion. The World Health Organisation (WHO), according to her, has also jumped on the IPPF bandwagon and is chanting the same mantra about reproductive health.

"We have to expose what they are doing," said Acosta. "Our governments think that the IPPF is doing a good job just because it gives out a lot of funding."

She also cited the introduction of the "morning-after pill" in Malaysia as an example of the destructive behaviour of IPPF. The morning after pill, she explained, is actually an abortifacient as it kills the baby, besides generating a lot of side-effects.

"The morning after pill is more potent, by 50 times, compared with the pill."

Quoting a study of the contraceptive business, Acosta said the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) alone made over US$65 million (about RM202 million) a year in profit from the sale of birth control devices.

"Contraceptives are a multi-billion dollar industry because they profit from children having sex," she said. "They urge people to practise ‘safe sex' by using condoms and other forms of contraception."

Reiterating that there's no such thing as safe sex, she warned that 33 per cent of condoms leaked with HIV-sized particles and offered no protection against cervical cancer.

Nearer home, HIV cases seem to be exploding in Thailand (up from 112 to a million) and Cambodia (up from 14 to 16,000) following the distribution of condoms by the shiploads, she added.