Panama City, Panama, Sep 28, 2008 / 02:49 am
Pro-family groups in Panama are denouncing the government’s Ministries of Health and Education for taking advantage of the absence of the country’s Catholic bishops—who are currently in Rome for their ad limina visit—to present a controversial bill on sexual and reproductive health that would violate the right of parents to decide the kind of sexual education their children receive.
Although the measure is being promoted as a means of improving maternal health, preventing unwanted pregnancies and AIDS, it has been severely questioned because it grants so-called "sexual rights" to minors, "taking away from parents the possibility of being involved and correcting the danger sexual behavior of our children," pro-family officials told CNA.