Sex and morals.

Byline: CHRIS STOLLAR 20Below News Team / The Register-Guard

IN A BOWL in her hand swims a fish, its bug-eyes peering out into the busy European street.

When traffic ceases, the woman darts impatiently into the crosswalk, failing to notice the reckless car speeding toward her. A hand from behind saves the woman's life but accidentally shatters her fish bowl on the asphalt.

Screaming with anxiety, the woman seizes her pet from the road and runs into the nearest store crying, "I need a condom!" A man behind the counter immediately grabs a condom, bloats it with water and plops the slippery creature into its new home.

This scene from one of Planned Parenthood's videos characterizes Europe's nonchalant attitude toward sexuality. In another clip, a young girl displays her collection of colored condoms to people on a bus.

"Sex is seen as a normal part of life, like eating," says one woman interviewed in the short film, which elicited much laughter from the more than 100 local church leaders recently gathered at First United Methodist for a forum on sex education.

Representing more than 25 congregations in the community, these individuals listened as Planned Parenthood advocated what's being called the European model, Europe's educational treatment of sex.

Under such a model, sex education is treated as a public health issue in schools, and educators would be allowed to distribute contraceptives. The plan would allow schools to freely dispense condoms, but not freely discuss moral issues.

Advocates for Youth, a research organization affiliated with Planned Parenthood, has compiled statistics it claims demonstrate Europe's success. The low pregnancy, birth and abortion rates the group reported compelled some conferees to advocate dispensing condoms at church youth events and schools.

The fact that many denominations applaud Planned Parenthood's new sex proposal lends credence to it. Either that, or it says something about the state of pop-culture Christianity.

Regardless, the statistics pose an important question: Should American schools adopt the European model? Before answering, AFY's statistics demand analysis: If they do not accurately portray reality, there exists no pragmatic reason for adopting the plan.

AFY praises the European model by painting a vibrant picture; it compares the low pregnancy, birth and abortion rates in the Netherlands to much higher rates in the United States.

However, while the United States compiles its statistics based on adolescents ages 15 to 19, the Dutch statistics included all females younger than 20 - including ages 1 to 14, according to the U.S. Consortium of Health Care and Public Policy Professionals, which studied the results in conjunction with Focus on the Family, a conservative organization that tracks public policy and family issues.

Because AFY includes elementary-age children to yield its low Netherlands rates, it understates the actual data by about 50 percent, the consortium concluded.

In addition, AFY distorts reality by not discussing other factors that may have accounted for Europe's reportedly low rates.

In France, laws require parental notification for abortion for females younger than 18. Also, a single Dutch mother who stops working can have her benefits reduced to 50 percent of minimum wage.

With such deterrents, it's no wonder many European teens delay sex longer than Americans.

Not surprisingly, AFY does not include these factors in its "scientific" research because they defy its agenda in the United States.

"The European research trip I attended with AFY was not an unbiased search for facts," says Dr. Lynne Robinson Tingle, an adolescent health expert from the University of North Carolina who attended AFY's 1998 tour. "In truth, it was a trip for advocates of a liberal sex-education agenda.

`It is not surprising, then, that the information collected from the trip supports an ordained agenda."

One California doctor with a background in youth development, who also attended the tour, summarizes the reality of Europe's condition.

"There is no compelling evidence that sex education in Europe is superior to that in the United States. It has a shorter history, is implemented over fewer hours, developed often by a single source and mirrors older American programs."

Practicality aside, two more fundamental reasons exist for not adopting the European model:

By excessively distributing condoms, it would promote the lie that contraceptives are safe.

It would remove morality from the debate.

Despite what Hollywood says, disease happens. In its 2000 Report on Public Policy, the Guttmacher Institute showed that up to 15 percent of sexually active teen-age women are infected by the human papilloma virus.

Studies have shown that the virus can be transmitted even while using a condom.

Other studies have demonstrated that when condoms are used properly, which occurs only 5 to 40 percent of the time, they still serve as ineffective barriers against sexually transmitted infections. Latex provides only a temporary illusion of safety.

Adopting the European model also would demand that U.S. schools remove morality from sex education, promoting the lie that safe, premarital sex bears no consequences.

"These (European) nations are far less wrapped up than the U.S. with questions about the morality of premarital sex or homosexual relations," writes Barbara Huberman, AFY's director of sexuality education. "Rather, public campaigns coordinate with school sexuality education, condom and contraceptive access, and nonjudgmental attitudes from adults to protect sexual health."

Similar to Europe, American teachers could treat sex as just another public health issue, like eating. Under AFY's proposal, teachers could explain sex to kindergartners, make contraceptives easily available in both middle and high school, and educate high schoolers with a video of two people "safely" having sex.

But they don't. Why?

Because many Americans still view sexual intercourse as something different than eating, an act that means much more than simply a bodily function. They know that even the safest sex can produce irrevocable consequences, such as disease and heartache.

Although some American schools may adopt the European model and choose to treat sex as casually as a fish in a condom, never will they be able to alter reality. Sex remains distinct from eating.

Chris Stollar is a sophomore at Gutenberg College. He can be reached by e-mail at [e-mail].