Our Moral Superiority About Sex Is Proving Deadly

Western nations like the US and the UK have split personalities when it comes to sex. Western cultures are obsessed with the topic, allowing it to dominate the media, consumer products and everyday life – yet their politicians and professionals are quick to criticize or advise developing nations about high rate of AIDS or promiscuity. A series published in the journal “Lancet” suggests that the West is more promiscuous than Africa, and yet the US joins countries like Iran, Iraq and Sudan in refusing to fund abortions for impoverished women in developing nations. Denying abortions or birth control for the poor does not decrease totals of unintended pregnancies or deaths. Sara Boseley, health editor for “The Guardian,” urges Europe to take the lead in giving the poorest women in the world some control over when to give birth, increasing their children’s chances of survival in nations that struggle for basic resources like water. Both developed and developing nations could benefit from fewer sanctimonious policies and more realistic and honest debate on the consequences of unrestrained sex. – YaleGlobal