Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street
London, SE11 4AB, United Kingdom
Telephone: (020) 7091 7091
Fax: (020) 7820 3131
Email: information@spuc.org.uk

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Compulsory sex ed is government exploitation of schools

London, 5 November 2009 - Compulsory sex education is government exploitation of schools, says the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

The government has announced today that it will implement the recommendations of the pro-abortion SRE Review Group for sex education throughout all Key Stages (age 5-16) of the education system. Mr Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, issued a ministerial statement http://is.gd/4NPpA

Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, commented: "We condemn this exploitation of the state-controlled school system by the government to deliver its anti-life policies to children, by-passing parental involvement.

"The government is removing the right of parents to protect their children from the explicit promotion of abortion and sexual health interventions in the latter stages. This will be exploited to pressure more schools to deliver government-style sexual health interventions. In recent years, these have been characterised by obscene and lurid presentations. These are the classroom equivalent of 'advertorials', promoting sex and birth-control products. They send the message to children: 'do whatever you like - just be sure to avoid or abort any pregnancy'.

"In today's statement, Mr Balls pays lip-service to the ethos of religious schools, but does not give them an opt-out from its SRE agenda. He demands that school governors should deliver the 'core entitlement' of the government's agenda, putting the onus on governors to find ways of reconciling this with their school's ethos.

"Mr Balls is bullying governors to help him enforce policies which are against the ethos of their schools, against the moral and religious values of their institutions, against the welfare of their pupils, and against the rights of parents", concluded Mr Tully.

SPUC has responded to the government's announcement by publishing a critique of government sexual health interventions for schools http://is.gd/4NPtO The document is being sent to all secondary schools, alerting them to the impact of the kind of SRE lessons that the government says children are 'entitled' to receive.