Sex Education and the Fred Nile Group

The shocking discovery that my daughter participated in a sex education class that has links to the Fred Nile Group has led to some pretty interesting conversations over the last week.

It has also led me on an interesting journey around the Internet- trying to find more information, but I haven't been on my own.

When the beans first spilt, I contacted Dr Leslie Cannold a well known ethicist and campaigner for the rights of women to make informed decisions. I wanted to let Leslie know of the confusing identity that Choices Decisions Outcomes had created when linking itself to Real Choices Australia which has the same three letter acronym as Reproductive Choice Australia. Both organisations are diametrically opposed in regards to the rights of women to have an abortion.

Leslie pointed out to me that the organisation Federation of Pregnancy Support Services Inc which certifies the trainers (Ulladulla High School) is an umbrella organisation for the Right to Life groups that underwent scrutiny via the Federal Government Senate and had to make significant changes to its constitution to prove impartiality and gain federal government funding.

A cross party Private Members bill was introduced in 2006 to cut through the confusing state of pregnancy counselling services offered in Australia.

Senator's Natasha Stott Despoja, Judith Troeth, Carol Brown and Kerry Nettle introduced the Pregnancy Counselling (Truth in Advertising) Bill 2006. The Bill extended the widely accepted principle of transparency in advertising to pregnancy counselling services.

Sadly, anti-abortion services advertise in ways designed to mislead and confuse women. These services provide false information to women about the risks of abortion, and will not refer women to a termination service, even if they request it. The Bill draws a line in the sand when it comes too false advertising. It prohibits agencies that will not refer for abortion from disguising this fact in the ads they put in GPs surgeries, and in the Yellow and White Pages,

So three years later on we are still in a position of misleading information with the Choices Decisions Outcomes program being delivered to teens by the Right to Life followers with no choices given to parents in regards to participation. A position that has to change. Public schools should not be engaging in one-sided debate but remain secular and allow young people to thrive in a balanced environment. For religious schooling there are plenty of private school options available.