Anti-abortion group plans education pack

The anti-abortion group Family and Life is planning to issue a new education pack promoting its cause to every secondary school in the State in order to combat what it describes as "sex education propaganda".

In a full-page advertisement in last week's edition of the the Irish Catholic one of the group's founders, Mr Peter Scully, described as "godless" and "smutty" certain sex education programmes in schools.

"Family experts throughout the world know that when the abortion promoters move into a school with their propaganda, they corrupt innocent young people, contributing to an increase in promiscuity, venereal disease, out-of-wedlock pregnancy and abortion," Mr Scully wrote.

"But the 'true believers' in raw 'sex education' couldn't care less that their programmes fan the flames of teen promiscuity.

"They honestly feel that they're 'liberating' the young from religious and moral 'hang-ups'. The godless sex educators' agenda is evil. It's rotten. It must be opposed.

"And you can be sure that these programmes influence many of the Irish women who go to England for abortions every year. Thus, they have the blood of innocent children on their hands."

The group said it was seeking to raise €36,075 to fund the creation and distribution of its information pack, "Education for Life", to 763 secondary schools.

Described as a "cure for the sex educators' brazen lies", the pack is to contain a "pro-life question and answer workbook", a CD-Rom presentation on the development of the unborn and a dedicated project website.

Calling on donors to make a "heroic gift" of €5,000 or €10,000, Mr Scully wrote: "This project will save countless babies from abortion - if we win the race for the hearts and minds of innocent and vulnerable children."

He added: "The godless sex educators hope we'll fall flat on our face financially.

"Today I urgently need the help of friends like you to educate the students of Ireland before the abortion propagandists corrupt them."

A spokesman for Family and Life said the project was not a reaction to any specific programme, such as the Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) scheme.

This scheme has been phased into primary and secondary curricula and Family and Life has already produced a detailed critique on it.

He said the education pack would be "quite soft in tone", suggesting it would contain different language to that used in the advertisement.

As regards the fundraising-drive, he said it had been "disastrous" to date.

"Things have been pretty inactive on the donor front since the last referendum (on abortion)."

The Department of Education and Science said its most recent figures on uptake for the RSE programme showed 40 per cent of primary schools and 81 per cent of secondary schools had implemented it by April 2000.