Pro-Condom Bias Cited as 3 Quit Sex Panel
WASHINGTON — Three prominent conservatives resigned today from the Reagan Administration’s Panel on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, charging that it is doing more to promote teen-age sex than prevent it.
“They have substituted their own ideology and course of action--that is, the wholesale distribution of condoms to teen-agers supported by so-called value-free advice about sexuality,†said Dr. James Dobson.
The three held a press conference to blast the 18-member panel’s majority for ignoring its mandate from Dr. Otis R. Bowen, secretary of Health and Human Services, to develop a plan to encourage teen-agers to avoid sexual intercourse.
Besides Dobson, founder of Focus on Family in Pomona and author of a best-selling book, “Dare to Discipline,†those resigning were Dr. Terrance Olson, associate dean at Brigham Young University, and William Pierce, president of the National Committee for Adoption.
A spokesman for Bowen said he would have no comment on the resignations.
But Dobson said Bowen had written him a letter in which he sided with the dissenters’ view that the best way for teen-agers to avoid pregnancy is not to engage in sex. He quoted Bowen as saying, however, that he planned “to let the panel run its course.â€
Given Non-Voting Role
The three conservatives said they were relegated to a non-voting advisory role on the panel, chaired by Dr. William Bricker who represents Boys Clubs Inc. Pierce said discussion on the panel concentrated on making contraceptives more widely available through school-based clinics.
“The majority of panel members seem to consider sexual intercourse between consenting teen-agers to be inevitable and quite normal,†Dobson said.
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