Back to News & Commentary

NYCLU Tells It Like It Is (Great Letter to the Editor)

Nancy Goldstein,
Reproductive Freedom Project
Share This Page
June 18, 2008

Check out this letter to the editor of the Little Falls Evening Times by Galen Sherwin, the Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project. Sherwin takes the paper to task for failing to tell its readers that a so-called “character education program” the local school board is considering is the product of an anti-abortion organization. And she calls out abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for their inaccuracies and ineffectiveness.

Your May 16 article, “Little Falls school board discusses character education program,” omits that Care Net, the organization proposing the program, defines its mission as “presenting the gospel of our Lord to women with crisis pregnancies.” In other words, its true mission is preventing abortion…Based on Care Net’s mission, and on the description in your article, we can only assume that the proposed “character building” program is an “abstinence-only-until-marriage” program. Abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which often rely on religious messages, scientific inaccuracies and scare tactics, censor vital information students need to guard against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

But don’t be content with this snippet. Sherwin’s letter is a terrific read. For the complete version, click here.

Learn More About the Issues on This Page