By Scott Tibbs, November 12, 2014
I criticize the Left quite often on this blog, but there are some really loopy things done by the Right as well. Case in point is a biology textbook that was redacted because it mentioned that abortion exists. It did not take a position favorable to abortion. If anything, it takes an anti-abortion position. But allowing high school students to learn about medical science was apparently a bridge too far. (See the scanned image on Facebook or Twitter or PhotoBucket.)
This is absurd. This is the kind of thing that makes Christians generally and abortion opponents specifically look bad. The redacted page does not tell teenagers where to get an abortion or where to get birth control. In fact, the page opens by explaining abstinence "is the only totally effective method of birth control," and the book points out that the "morning after pill" can prevent implantation of the embryo.
I am a father of two, and I am an uncle and great uncle many times over. I understand the desire to protect teens, both from making dangerous and immoral choices and from being abused and exploited. I certainly do not want the government school system giving condoms or birth control to teens without parental consent. I certainly do not want the government school system sending perverted "sex surveys" to children without parental consent. (See here and here and here and here and here for more about that controversy from 2005.)
None of that is at issue here. What we have here is a biology textbook recognizing that birth control and chemical abortion are things that exist, and then explains how those things work biologically. Censorship of that information, by literally ripping a page out of a textbook, is a hysterical overreaction that only serves to make the page-rippers look like complete ninnies. This kind of nonsense needs to stop.
