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Colorado Gov. Bans Abstinence-Only Sex Ed, Permits Homosexual Adoption

Ritter ran as a pro-life candidate in last fall’s election

By Gudrun Schultz

DENVER, Colorado, May 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law Monday two bills legalizing homosexual adoption and banning abstinence-only sex education.

Ritter defended his decision to sign H.B. 1330, which permits homosexual couples to adopt, by claiming the law would “strengthen families and provide children with as stable an environment as possible,” The Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Jim Pfaff, president and CEO of the Colorado Family Institute, told Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link that both bills were examples of paybacks to financial supporters.

“Both bills show that this was a Legislature that was willing to pay back its benefactors,” he said. “Their agenda is to expand rights and legal acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. What we need to be doing is strengthening the capability of mother-and father households to adopt.

“It’s a clarion call to the Church, that we need to be addressing the adoption issue.”

Pfaff said Ritter’s support of a ban on abstinence-only sex education will take moral teaching out of the classroom and undo the success already apparent with abstinence-only programs currently in use in the state.

“It’s a radical reversal of what has been working in Colorado,” he said. “We have seen a noticeable decrease in out-of-wedlock births among teens. Now, all that progress has been wiped away with the stroke of the governor’s pen.”

Both laws were strongly opposed by the Colorado Catholic Conference, Catholic News Agency reported May 15. The law permitting adoption by homosexual couples or unmarried heterosexual couples bypasses the normal legal review process of adoption, the CCC warned. It “fails to recognize the intricacies of adoption law and processes, and is not in the best interests of the children or people of Colorado.”

As well, the law “clearly circumvents the expressed will of Colorado voters who rejected Referendum I in November of 2006. Referendum I would have allowed same-sex couples the possibility of adopting children,” the CCC pointed out.

The law requiring all sex education courses to include contraceptive instruction will undercut the effectiveness of abstinence-only teaching, the CCC said. “Although this law does address the need for abstinence education it also mandates the teaching of contraceptive methods and practices. This legislation will eliminate a public school district’s ability to retain local control over the content of human sexuality courses taught in their schools.

Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali recently told the U.S. legislature that “so-called ‘comprehensive’ sex education programs that mention abstinence within the discussion of premarital sexual experimentation is not an appropriate alternative.”

“‘Comprehensive’ sex education,” he said, is “more accurately described as compromised education. The abstinence message is mentioned, but then undermined with the false message that premature sexual experimentation does no real harm if steps are taken to avoid pregnancy.”

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput challenged Ritter in January to be sure his actions as governor reflected his professed Roman Catholic faith--Ritter ran as a pro-life candidate in last fall’s election. Catholics and pro-life groups in the state expressed disappointment with the governor’s decision in March to sign a law requiring all Colorado hospitals, including Catholic institutions, to offer information on abortifacient drugs to victims of rape.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Catholic Colorado Governor Signs Bill Mandating Catholic Hospitals Give Information on Abortion Drug
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/mar/07031602.html

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