11/03/2005

Pro-Family Law Center Decries Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal Decision Ending Parental Rights Over Sex Education For Children

TEMECULA, Calif., Nov. 3 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, "[T]here is no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children, either independent of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children or encompassed by it. We also hold that parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed while enrolled as students." [The entire court opinion is available online at: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/E8695945B7C6F6B5882570AD0051320A/$file/0356499.pdf?openelement ] According to Pro-Family Law Center's President, Richard D. Ackerman, "This the most disturbing holding I have seen in my legal career. While I thought that the Ninth Circuit had certainly outdone itself with the Pledge of Allegiance decision, this is beyond anything they have done before. Most people do not realize that this decision absolutely guts all family rights. Once we conclude that the government's interests in the morality of families are absolutely superior to those of parents, we have moved the last step toward totalitarian rule."

Ackerman goes on to say, "What this clearly means is that we must also make important decisions about who sits on our local school boards, local courts, and in other local positions of trust. The bottom line is that the school board in the Fields v. Palmdale School District case decided to instruct the district's attorneys to destroy the parents who complained about their 7-year-olds being asked questions about things such as, '[t]hinking about touching other people's private parts.' These board members ought to be recalled immediately."

PFLC is openly offering its pro bono support to the parents and their lawyers who brought this case to the courts. PFLC looks forward to this case going to the Supreme Court and defending the legal interests of those interested in recalling the board members who authorized this destruction of parental rights.

Ackerman concludes, "I might also point out that Judge Reinhardt, the author of this opinion, is married to the former director of the ACLU (Ramona Ripston). This is hardly a fair playing field. According to pundits, issues such as those raised in this case are irrelevant to 'apolitical' decisions made by school boards and that we should not have idealogues at the helm -- because our schools are not political. Folks who believe this need to wake up before they have their own children bringing home the idea that the schools have more of a right to teach them morals than their own parents."

PFLC is a conservative civil rights legal organization operating in Southern California. It has defended the Pledge of Allegiance, fought the spread of AIDS, and has defended the rights of Christians in the courts.