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American Morning
Discussion of High School Tests for STDs
Aired December 04, 2002 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Philadelphia now, health officials are taking some aggressive steps, trying to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. Next month, voluntary screening for such diseases will start at all city high schools. This is an expansion of a program that started last year with voluntary testing at two high schools.
Let's look at some numbers from that. At the time, about 15 percent of female students tested positive. So did five percent of males.
We have two views on the controversial plan this morning.
We're welcoming Gloria Feldt, president profit Planned Parenthood. She's here in New York. And Kenneth Connor, he is the head of the Family Research Council. He is in Nashville, Tennessee.
Good morning to both of you.
KENNETH CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Good morning to you.
KAGAN: I want to make very clear right up front what we are not talking about, and we're not debating whether or not sick kids should get treatment.
Kenneth, is that right?
CONNOR: Right. That's right. The people, through their elected representatives, have decided to provide this care and treatment without their parents' consent, and that's not the issue here.
GLORIA FELDT, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Yes, no, I cannot hear a thing.
KAGAN: OK, it looks like we're having a little bit of a problem, but Gloria Feldt, who's not that far from us here in New York, can't hear us.
Gloria, can you hear me?
Apparently now.
We're going to let you work on that.
Kenneth, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk with you.
So your issue with this program is whether or not parents find out about their kids getting treatment?
CONNOR: Well, we always worry when parents are left out of the loop regarding the medical care of their children. But I think the bigger question is why on earth are we having this epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases? And it is attributable in no small part to the fact that Planned Parenthood has promoted this myth of safe sex, the notion that kids can engage in sex without consequences.
When the reality of it is that STDs' risk is not eliminated by the use of condoms, and so what you have is more kids having more sex under the illusion that it's safe sex. The result being an absolute epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. The U.S. has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases of any country in the developed world.
KAGAN: The numbers are very high. In Philadelphia, 62 percent of teenagers saying that they are sexually active.
CONNOR: Yes.
KAGAN: I think the good news here, Gloria, I think your mike is now working and you can actually hear us.
FELDT: It's now working. Sorry about that. Yes.
KAGAN: As we bring you in, I want to make it very clear that it's not Planned Parenthood that is administering these tests.
FELDT: Correct.
KAGAN: Rather, it's the school district and the high schools and the health department that are doing the tests.
So, Gloria, let's let you weigh in here.
FELDT: And that's because public health experts and the American College of Pediatrics and virtually every medical and health entity in this country understands that the life of a sexually active young person is not less valuable than the life of anybody else, and that it's incredibly important to be able to provide them with confidential services.
That's why every state for generations has provided testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, confidentiality. That's a public health matter.
The problem here really is that extreme groups like the Family Research Council would rather have their ideology come first. Their ideology always trumps science, it trumps medicine, it trumps public health. Other countries with lower rates of sexually transmitted infections provide more confidential services, more medically...
CONNOR: Well, the reality...
FELDT: More medically accurate...
CONNOR: Look, the reality, Gloria, is...
FELDT: ... sex education...
CONNOR: ... that Planned Parenthood puts...
FELDT: ... more family planning services...
CONNOR: ... profits ahead of people.
FELDT: ... to enable young people to prevent sexually transmitted infections. Prevention is possible. We know that. And that's why the public health authorities are providing this program.
CONNOR: Well, prevention is possible...
FELDT: I think they're being very wise and compassionate.
KAGAN: Kenneth, let me just, I want to just jump in here and give our viewers some more information about this program. As it is going to work, parents will receive some notification at home that this program is taking place. However, they will not be notified if their teenagers goes in for testing or if, indeed, their teenager does go ahead and seek treatment.
Is that exactly, as we focus on this program and not necessarily the bigger picture, do you have a problem with how that's set up?
CONNOR: No. We don't have a problem with that. That's what the people, through their elected representatives, have decided upon. But again, it begs the bigger question, which is why on earth are we having this epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. And it's because groups like Planned Parenthood put profits ahead of people. And what they do is put out a lot of information to young people, who act under the illusion that they can engage in safe sex when in reality what's happening is that this myth that Planned Parenthood is promoting is actually resulting in an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.
KAGAN: Kenneth, I'm just going to jump in here and refocus you here because we're not here to debate Planned Parenthood.
FELDT: That's right. We're here to debate this specific program.
KAGAN: That's exactly right.
FELDT: This is an important program...
KAGAN: But Gloria, hold it...
FELDT: ... critical program (UNINTELLIGIBLE) whole issue.
KAGAN: Gloria, hold on one second. I'm going to put you on hold here for a second, too, because just to give people information about the program and not to get away from our debate here. We have a quote from one of the school officials in Philadelphia and he wants to be very clear about what this program is about. He says, "It's an abstinence first philosophy." He just believes we have to take it up a notch. So, in fact, it looks like the message they're trying to give kids is don't have sex. But, in fact, if the kids are having sex, and as we see from the statistics, 62 percent of the teenagers say they are, and there clearly is a disease problem, where do you go from there?
CONNOR: We're all in favor...
FELDT: Exactly.
CONNOR: We're all in favor of young people...
FELDT: And, Daryn -- please.
KAGAN: Kenneth, let me let Gloria get in here...
FELDT: He's had more than his time, I think.
KAGAN: Because we've given you more time in this segment.
Go ahead, Gloria.
FELDT: The life and the health of a sexually active young person is precious. It is not less valuable than anyone else. And we must not let our ideology trump good public health practices. That's why every state in the United States provides sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment to anyone of any age confidentiality. It's sound public health practice. That's what we're talking about.
And if we value and have compassion for the lives of our young people, we want them to have access to these services. And, of course, we want them to talk to their parents, too. But they're much more likely to be able to do that if they can come to a caring health professional and get some assistance with that.
KAGAN: Clearly it sounds that one thing we can agree on, everyone in favor of healthy teenagers. How we get there, the debate will continue.
Kenneth Connor, Gloria Feldt, thank you so much for joining us.
FELDT: Thank you. Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: And I apologize there for a little technical difficulty off the top.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 4, 2002 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In Philadelphia now, health officials are taking some aggressive steps, trying to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers. Next month, voluntary screening for such diseases will start at all city high schools. This is an expansion of a program that started last year with voluntary testing at two high schools.
Let's look at some numbers from that. At the time, about 15 percent of female students tested positive. So did five percent of males.
We have two views on the controversial plan this morning.
We're welcoming Gloria Feldt, president profit Planned Parenthood. She's here in New York. And Kenneth Connor, he is the head of the Family Research Council. He is in Nashville, Tennessee.
Good morning to both of you.
KENNETH CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Good morning to you.
KAGAN: I want to make very clear right up front what we are not talking about, and we're not debating whether or not sick kids should get treatment.
Kenneth, is that right?
CONNOR: Right. That's right. The people, through their elected representatives, have decided to provide this care and treatment without their parents' consent, and that's not the issue here.
GLORIA FELDT, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Yes, no, I cannot hear a thing.
KAGAN: OK, it looks like we're having a little bit of a problem, but Gloria Feldt, who's not that far from us here in New York, can't hear us.
Gloria, can you hear me?
Apparently now.
We're going to let you work on that.
Kenneth, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk with you.
So your issue with this program is whether or not parents find out about their kids getting treatment?
CONNOR: Well, we always worry when parents are left out of the loop regarding the medical care of their children. But I think the bigger question is why on earth are we having this epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases? And it is attributable in no small part to the fact that Planned Parenthood has promoted this myth of safe sex, the notion that kids can engage in sex without consequences.
When the reality of it is that STDs' risk is not eliminated by the use of condoms, and so what you have is more kids having more sex under the illusion that it's safe sex. The result being an absolute epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. The U.S. has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases of any country in the developed world.
KAGAN: The numbers are very high. In Philadelphia, 62 percent of teenagers saying that they are sexually active.
CONNOR: Yes.
KAGAN: I think the good news here, Gloria, I think your mike is now working and you can actually hear us.
FELDT: It's now working. Sorry about that. Yes.
KAGAN: As we bring you in, I want to make it very clear that it's not Planned Parenthood that is administering these tests.
FELDT: Correct.
KAGAN: Rather, it's the school district and the high schools and the health department that are doing the tests.
So, Gloria, let's let you weigh in here.
FELDT: And that's because public health experts and the American College of Pediatrics and virtually every medical and health entity in this country understands that the life of a sexually active young person is not less valuable than the life of anybody else, and that it's incredibly important to be able to provide them with confidential services.
That's why every state for generations has provided testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, confidentiality. That's a public health matter.
The problem here really is that extreme groups like the Family Research Council would rather have their ideology come first. Their ideology always trumps science, it trumps medicine, it trumps public health. Other countries with lower rates of sexually transmitted infections provide more confidential services, more medically...
CONNOR: Well, the reality...
FELDT: More medically accurate...
CONNOR: Look, the reality, Gloria, is...
FELDT: ... sex education...
CONNOR: ... that Planned Parenthood puts...
FELDT: ... more family planning services...
CONNOR: ... profits ahead of people.
FELDT: ... to enable young people to prevent sexually transmitted infections. Prevention is possible. We know that. And that's why the public health authorities are providing this program.
CONNOR: Well, prevention is possible...
FELDT: I think they're being very wise and compassionate.
KAGAN: Kenneth, let me just, I want to just jump in here and give our viewers some more information about this program. As it is going to work, parents will receive some notification at home that this program is taking place. However, they will not be notified if their teenagers goes in for testing or if, indeed, their teenager does go ahead and seek treatment.
Is that exactly, as we focus on this program and not necessarily the bigger picture, do you have a problem with how that's set up?
CONNOR: No. We don't have a problem with that. That's what the people, through their elected representatives, have decided upon. But again, it begs the bigger question, which is why on earth are we having this epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. And it's because groups like Planned Parenthood put profits ahead of people. And what they do is put out a lot of information to young people, who act under the illusion that they can engage in safe sex when in reality what's happening is that this myth that Planned Parenthood is promoting is actually resulting in an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.
KAGAN: Kenneth, I'm just going to jump in here and refocus you here because we're not here to debate Planned Parenthood.
FELDT: That's right. We're here to debate this specific program.
KAGAN: That's exactly right.
FELDT: This is an important program...
KAGAN: But Gloria, hold it...
FELDT: ... critical program (UNINTELLIGIBLE) whole issue.
KAGAN: Gloria, hold on one second. I'm going to put you on hold here for a second, too, because just to give people information about the program and not to get away from our debate here. We have a quote from one of the school officials in Philadelphia and he wants to be very clear about what this program is about. He says, "It's an abstinence first philosophy." He just believes we have to take it up a notch. So, in fact, it looks like the message they're trying to give kids is don't have sex. But, in fact, if the kids are having sex, and as we see from the statistics, 62 percent of the teenagers say they are, and there clearly is a disease problem, where do you go from there?
CONNOR: We're all in favor...
FELDT: Exactly.
CONNOR: We're all in favor of young people...
FELDT: And, Daryn -- please.
KAGAN: Kenneth, let me let Gloria get in here...
FELDT: He's had more than his time, I think.
KAGAN: Because we've given you more time in this segment.
Go ahead, Gloria.
FELDT: The life and the health of a sexually active young person is precious. It is not less valuable than anyone else. And we must not let our ideology trump good public health practices. That's why every state in the United States provides sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment to anyone of any age confidentiality. It's sound public health practice. That's what we're talking about.
And if we value and have compassion for the lives of our young people, we want them to have access to these services. And, of course, we want them to talk to their parents, too. But they're much more likely to be able to do that if they can come to a caring health professional and get some assistance with that.
KAGAN: Clearly it sounds that one thing we can agree on, everyone in favor of healthy teenagers. How we get there, the debate will continue.
Kenneth Connor, Gloria Feldt, thank you so much for joining us.
FELDT: Thank you. Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: And I apologize there for a little technical difficulty off the top.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
