Gozo Bishop Mario Grech’s assertion that teaching students about contraception may be tantamount to abuse has enraged GU Clinic head Philip Carabot, who for years has campaigned for a holistic sexual health policy.

“I am not exactly surprised. We have become used to this kind of hysterical reaction from certain quarters. It is extremely unproductive and I’ve lost patience with these people,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Addressing a conference last Sunday, Mgr Grech said: “The education system may be abusing students if instead of helping them to control their sexual energy it teaches them about contraception.”

Reacting to Mgr Grech’s comments, Health Minister Joseph Cassar stressed the proposed sexual health policy did not seek to promote contraception but “seeks to promote sexual health and sexual well-being as an essential component of everybody’s healthy life style”.

“The policy will be the basis for a sexual health strategy and will be the framework for action because it comprises a series of recommendations drawn upon sound evidence. It is not simply about promoting contraception and avoiding and preventing the spreading of diseases,” Dr Cassar said.

A dismayed Dr Carabot argued that some people seemed to prefer perpetuating the “chaos” in terms of sexual diseases and teenage pregnancies as long as they “maintain the status quo and further their agendas”. But this should not stop the authorities from taking necessary action, he said, adding it should instead push people to carry on with plans to tackle the major problem of lack of contraception use.

“The major fact is we have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the whole of Europe. These are the statistics. Are these people arguing we are inventing these teenage pregnancies? That we are inflating the figures on purpose? If they really believe so they should stand up and be counted and say so.”

Meanwhile, the dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University, Fr Prof. Emmanuel Agius, backed Mgr Grech’s comments, saying if sexual education focused only on promoting contraceptives he agreed it could be tantamount to abuse.

Asked if sex education without any reference to contraception was also tantamount to abuse, Fr Agius said: “I think students should have full information.”

“The role of an education programme should be to teach students to live their sexuality in a mature way. Sexuality is more than sex. There is no harm in teaching them about contraception but students should be given all the information: how safe, how unsafe and the health hazards. We should not project the myth that contraception solves all problems.”

Fr Agius said he preferred to “hold judgment” on the claim that Malta had one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies. “We have a problem. But not because we are not informing students on contraceptives; it’s because we need a sound and adequate national policy on sexuality,” he said, adding that parents should be included in this process.

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