Cowardly sex education debate halt

AS LAWMAKERS  in Panama’s National Assembly  cover their ears  eyes and mouths and dodge inconvenient issues, battle lines are again being drawn over the decision to suspend the discussion of the draft law that would require sexual education to be taught in public schools.

Representatives of organized civil society and groups largely backed by religious organizations are back on the airwaves expressing widely differing viewpoints.

When the issue was last before the Assembly, church led groups, marched in their thousands to oppose a  bill to introduce sex education.

Juan Francisco de la Guardia, president of the Panamanian Alliance for Life and Family, congratulated Deputy Gabriel Soto, chairman of the Labor, Health and Social Development Committee of the National Assembly, for suspending the debate.

Meanwhile , Annette Planells of the Independent Movement Movin said that it was a “cowardly” decision, because “there is a clear need to address issues such as high teenage pregnancy rates and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases