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Show Page 6 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume II, Issue I October 1999 Defending the Family By Professor Richard G. Wilkins J. Reuben Clark Law School Brigham Young University Throughout history, stable societies have recognized (and protected) the family as the basic unit of society precisely because the family is the social unit that has the primary responsibility for rearing and educating children. The family has successfully performed these fundamental tasks, in large part, because peaceful existence within a secure family demands that family members recognize (and respect) not just “rights” but communal responsibilities. During the latter half of this century, however, the modern emphasis on autonomy has shifted the focus of academic and governmental energies away from the recognition of (and respect for) communal responsibilities to a focus on “individual rights.” It is time to direct some of the energy we have lavished on the protection of the individual to the defense and protection of the family. Without this defense, the family, the most basic community of all, may be imperiled. I first became involved with issues of family policy and society in June 1996 when, almost by accident, I attended a UN Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. The Conference, known as Habitat II, was the culmination of a decade-long series of conferences designed to develop a “blueprint” for international (and ultimately domestic) legal relations during the coming century. These Conferences have been accurately perceived as significant international law-making events. They have also followed a predictable (and extreme) ideological course primarily championed by a feminist lobby that, according to one scholar, “ha[s] marginalized parents, ignored the family, denigrated cultural and religious values and enshrined reproductive and sexual health.” What made the Istanbul Conference remarkable was that it departed from this set course. As a result of an unusual series of events, I was selected to give a short four-minute speech before one of the drafting committees at the Habitat Conference. The speakers who took the podium before me urged the conferees to recognize same-sex marriage, increase funding for adolescent sexual reproductive services, provide 18 to 20 hours a day of government-sponsored daycare, and take all “necessary steps” to insure that every woman was “fully employed” outside the home. My message was rather different. I began my remarks by informing the conferences that the family — as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other important UN documents — is the fundamental unit of society. It is the fundamental unit, moreover, precisely because it is the laboratory where little boys learn to love, respect and work with little girls, and where little girls Formerly Toyn’s Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Closed Sunday & Monday Pumpkin Patch: Pumpkins & Corn Stalks Fun Decorations for Halloween & Thanksgiving Wreaths, Garlands, Candles, Scarecrows 10 - 50 % off Selected Trees, Shrubs & Flowering Perennials Farmer’s Market: Corn, Squash, Fresh Super Mild Garlic Pumpkin Carving Contest October 16th 10:30 a.m. Great Selection of Spring Bulbs still available! 8588 East 100 South Huntsville UT 84317 745-3130 learn the same essential skills in dealing with little boys. I reminded the delegates that, if we don’t learn these skills within the home, there is little chance that we will learn them elsewhere. Accordingly, I urged the delegates to do what they could to strengthen the family, rather than expend the vast majority of their energies creating substitute social structures. I pointed out, for example, that extensive studies had shown that the incidence of teenage pregnancy and abortions actually increases following the initiation of “traditional” sex education programs that emphasize teaching technical sexual “know-how” and providing prophylactics. By contrast, however, the incidence of adolescent pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted disease is actually reduced through family-based education programs. At the conclusion of my short remarks, I urged the conferees to be quite careful before they took any action that would undermine the central role of the family in their societies. The reaction to the speech was remarkable. Many of the speakers who had preceded me at the podium hissed as I returned to my seat. But most of the delegates in the audience gave me a standing ovation. Indeed, after the speech, I was approached by the Ambassador from Saudi Arabia who embraced me warmly. “Where have you been?” he asked. More importantly, he asked a very important question: “What can we do?” I gave the Ambassador a short list of items that could be changed in the draft Habitat Agenda that would strengthen, rather than weaken, the family’s central role. Thirty-six hours later, the Islamic Conference issued a joint statement, announcing to the entire Habitat Conference that they would not sign the Habitat Agenda unless (and until) certain important changes were made. As a result, and at the insistence of the Islamic Conference, several very important changes were made in the Habitat Agenda. Instead of defining “marriage” and/or “family” in a manner that explicitly legitimates same-sex marriages and families (as did the original draft), the final Habitat Agenda defines the marital relationship as one between “husband and wife.” Instead of numerous explicit paragraphs mandating worldwide abortion on demand, only one (somewhat hedged) reference to “reproductive health” remained. T h e underlined words, “related to,” were added to clarify that abortion was not necessarily part of “reproductive health care.” Prior to the Habitat Agenda, “reproductive health care” had been defined by the World Health Organization (a UN Agency) as including the “interrupt[ion of] unwanted pregnancies.” The “related to” language was designed to insure that “reproductive health care” did not automatically include the “interrupt[ion of] pregnancies.” The Habitat Agenda, finally, formally recognized the “family” as “the basic unit of society” that “should be strengthened.” These developments, viewed from the perspective of current American and European legal trends, are significant. The Habitat Conference sent a strong message that strengthening the family – not the simple recognition of more “rights” or |