An international digest

Two stories involving sexuality abroad caught my attention today.

The first, comes from Portugal, where the conservative Catholic country voted to legalize abortion in the first ten weeks. Now, due to low turnout, the pro-choice majority Parliament will have to vote on the referendum's results. Before this landmark vote, abortion was only legal when it threatened the life of the mother, the fetus was malformed, or in cases of rape. For each of those cases, however, the procedure could only be performed in the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy.

The second story hails from Kenya, where a local evangelical church held a weeklong "Sex Revolution Conference." An excerpt...

The conference, which concluded on Sunday, emphasized that for too long Christians and the Church have been silent on sexuality, indirectly contributing to problems such as AIDS, teenage pregnancies, rape, and divorce.

“We can’t continue pretending that these are not issues. We have Christian couples going to the secular world to seek help on how to improve their sex lives. People are suffering in silence,” said Muriithi. (Emphasis mine)

We welcome the Church's interest in talking to their congregations frankly about sex and cutting through the silence. Dialogue is ALWAYS better than silence when it comes to sexual health.