Carol Soelberg
Watch for UFI's Survey!
Dear Friend of the Family,
With 30 years of protecting families behind us, United Families International is more committed than ever to securing a future for families! We continue to monitor social issues nationally and internationally, and fight distant, unreported battles for you. We recognize also how very important it is to have strong families to protect! We desire to know how we can best strengthen, support and encourage your family…and no one knows your needs better than you. Because of this, we will soon send out a brief and simple survey. Please help us know how to serve you better by responding to the survey as soon as you can.
A Time for Parents to Act Boldly, Courageously
“Ann” was just 16 years old when she lost her virginity at a party. Her boyfriend took her by the hand into a room and started kissing her. Before she knew it, they were in bed having sexual intercourse. The following week at school, he paid no attention to her, and word spread through the hallway and classrooms that she was “easy.” Bad as this was, it was soon dwarfed by a more serious problem. Within a few weeks, she was sitting in a doctor's office, dazed and devastated.
Tests confirmed that she had an incurable sexually transmitted disease. At 16, her life had been irreparably harmed. How would she ever attract a future husband? How would she experience her hopes and dreams of motherhood and family? Her dreams now seemed to be far beyond her reach.
This story is far too common. The number of people walking around with STD's is shocking. In fact, research presented last month at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National STD Prevention Conference showed that one in four teen-age girls in the United States (3.2 million) have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) - That means 25 percent of all girls ages 14-19 have an STI!
Common sense tells us that sexual abstinence until marriage is the only 100-percent proven way to prevent STD's; yet more than 75 percent of all sexual education courses taught in our public schools are based on the active promotion of condoms, other forms of contraception and “safer sex.” The following facts are proof of why there is an epidemic of sexual transmitted diseases:
- Condoms failed to prevent the transmission of the HIV virus between 15 and 31 percent of the time;
- According to the National Survey of Family Growth, one in every five teens using condoms becomes pregnant within one year;
- Sexual activity prior to marriage leads to elevated risks of suicide, depression, substance abuse, anxiety and dating violence.
What Can You Do?
Many parents find it difficult to talk with their children about sexual matters. But it simply must be done for their protection. Parents must be teachers about many things in life, and sexual abstinence until marriage should be high on that list.
Here are some tips for you:
- Stay close to your children. Fewer teen pregnancies and STD's result when fathers maintain good relationships with their daughters;
- Support abstinence-only education and its funding;
- Monitor the “sex education” programs in your children's schools;
- If you believe any of your children are sexually active, have them tested and treated;
- Encourage your children to think consequentially and to remain abstinent. Re-enforce this theme on a regular basis. Children respond to clearly communicated and high levels of expectation from their parents;
- Positive peer pressure on teens can work. Teens in religious youth groups will receive positive instruction from a youth leader and peer pressure from fellow teens to remain sexually pure until marriage.
The Right Message
UFI is working to shape policies that protect our children, our marriages and our families. Our new publication, “Guide to Family Issues: The Marriage Advantage,” will help you pass along the truth about marriage and healthy sexuality. For a gift of $30 or more, you can receive your own personal copy. This book will serve as a great resource for you.
Supporting Social Science Research
Seeing the Everyday
While our efforts at United Families International deal primarily in preserving the family, we frequently look for ways to strengthen the family as well. I highly recommend a wonderful new publication — Seeing the Everyday. This magazine is centered on family strengthening themes. It inspires and teaches the importance of family with words and images that turn our minds to the beauty and significance of family. Seeing the Everyday can help motivate family-focused discussion and action for each of us.
For every subscription to this magazine, $1 will be contributed to United Families International to help with our cause of securing a future for the family. Please consider a subscription for your family and a gift subscription for another family.
Warmly,
Carol Soelberg,
President United Families International
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