Surgeon General David Satcher released the “Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior” yesterday urging parents and teachers to present children with a comprehensive sex education program that permits the distribution of contraception in schools and promotes tolerance of homosexuality. The Bush Administration has attempted to distance itself from the report by having spokesman Ari Fleischer stress that it was “commissioned by the previous administration.”
Two years of exhaustive research of scientific literature, conferences, and input from a wide range of sources prompted Satcher to advocate for a broad sex education program that distributes contraception and teaches tolerance of people of different sexual orientations. The Surgeon General’s office aims to decrease the grave health problems related to sex, such as unintended pregnancies, anti-gay violence, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
