To the editor:
National Public Health Week is celebrated every year in April by the American Public Health Association. This organization influences U.S. public health policy with information that they claim is based on science. They conduct public health educational campaigns such as National Public Health Week. They claim that the materials they produce for this campaign will "raise awareness about public health and prevention." There is a theme for each day of the week.
I checked reproductive and sexual health. The first topic was abortion. This organization is promoting "abortion rights" for all women. They give a statistic that Black women are more likely to die of pregnancy complications than white women. What are the causes of these deaths? What preventive measures could be taken to prevent these deaths? Is it because Black women do not receive adequate prenatal and/or postpartum care? Can these deaths be decreased with good prenatal and postpartum care? Black women should be offered culturally-appropriate prenatal and postpartum care as a preventive measure to decrease deaths, not abortions.
This organization claims that "women who receive a wanted abortion are more likely to be socioeconomically stable and less likely to stay in violent relationships compared to women who are denied wanted abortions." They claim that they share research through their journal and their awareness campaigns. They cited no research studies on their website to validate the above claims. Have you ever seen statistics about the complications of abortion? Abortion complications include retained products of conception which can lead to bleeding and infection, uterine perforation, incompetent cervix which can lead to future miscarriages and even death. There are also emotional complications such as guilt and a form of PTSD called post-abortion syndrome. If one of the foci of this organization is prevention, why aren't they discussing ways to prevent unplanned pregnancies which could also prevent sexually transmitted infections?
Their second emphasis under this theme is LGBTQ+ education and gender-affirming education. They claim that sex education which includes those topics "can lead to a delay in the age of first-time sexual intercourse, reduce the overall number of sexual partners, increase use of contraception, reduce unintended teen pregnancy and reduce rates of teen HIV and other STIs within the LGBTQ+ community." This organization does not indicate when this education should be given. We have heard about this kind of education, especially gender-affirming education, starting in grade school as young as kindergarten.
Shouldn't children who believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy be shielded from this type of education? APHA cites no research to back their claims. What about students who are not in that group? How does this sex education affect those students? Does this education lead to the same positive outcomes for others students?
If you have wondered what "science" is affecting health policy, this is an example of the kind of science that is affecting our public health system. Go to their website "www.apha.com" and see for yourself.
Michalene A. King
Wintersville