From BBC 24-Feb.
Iran girl gets 100 lashes for sex

A teenage girl and two young men in Iran have been sentenced to lashes for having sex.

The court dismissed the girl's claim that we was raped. It said she had sex of her own free will, the official Iran Daily newspaper reported.

The girl was sentenced to 100 lashes because her accusations of rape and kidnap could have landed her partners a death penalty, the Tehran judge said.

Sex outside marriage is illegal in Iran and capital punishment can be imposed.

The young men in the case were sentenced to 30 and 40 lashes each.

Rob Moodie, CEO of VicHealth said
"The Senator looks admiringly to the US. The US has a much higher abortion rate and teenage pregnancy rate than Australia"

I find it astonishing, that the CEO of VicHealth could make such a horribly wrong claim such as this. Clearly, he need to get better information passed to his office.
Considering that Australia has almost exactly the same rate of Abortions and the US, to claim that the US has a 'much higher' rate is somewhat bewildering coming from a qualified professional.

Please Rob, if you are going to make a statement, make sure it is accurate.
(Reference International Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 25(Supplement):S30–S38)

It's 20 years since I was at high school but I can relate to everything Ruby said! Unfortunately I was one of the ones who succumbed to the lies and pressure about sex and have regretted it ever since. I can relate to the low self-esteem, turning to alcohol and, yes, cigarettes (also considered pretty harmless back then) and the meaninglessness of shallow demeaning sexual encounters with temporary boyfriends. The side effects of trying all the different forms of contraception. The pregnancy tests (and the waiting)... The AIDs test... I was one of the lucky 1's... The STD clinic at the hospital.

I wish I could have it all back again to make a different, better choice - to wait for marriage, where my experience is that sex is great and 100% safe and loving and deep and committed and worth waiting for and exciting even after many years with the same person (I feel so sorry for David JS who has such shallow relationships that he can't trust his partners even to tell him the truth!)

But even though I can't have my time again I've shared the lesson I learned with my four kids - there's a better path to choose. Abstinence was a path chosen by a few of my friends who have no regrets. I wish I was one of them - and fortunately, my kids and many of their friends are some of the ones seeing through the lies and making the BEST choice. To say No to premature sex, to hear about sex within strong healthy marriage relationships instead. They need all the support they can get - thanks Brian!

The late 1900s was a reality research project in sexual promiscuity - I and many others were victims/subjects. This generation deserves some better, more truthful messages from society.

Maybe Brian Harradine can get a job as a judge in Iran when he leaves the Senate :P

As reported in the SMH yesterday in an article entitled, "Condoms the big winner against AIDS, study finds": In Uganda, officials fighting the advance of the HIV virus embraced the "ABC" program, that represents Abstinence, Being faithful to one partner, and using Condoms. The Ugandan program has been much lauded in the past for its success in in battling the virus, and the reasons for this success rate have now become available.

The results of a 10 year study of 10,000 adults in the Rakai district of Uganda, or about 85% of the population in 44 villages, where the ABC approach has been adopted, were reported this week, and demonstrate that the success rate has little to do with the policies pushed by the Bush administration.

Maria Wawer of Columbia University, who helped lead the team, which includes experts from Johns Hopkins University and Uganda's Makerere University, said, "We think it is condoms keeping the rate from going up". In Rakai the rate of HIV infection has dropped by 30%. But among all age groups and in both sexes, only condom use has increased (not abstinence or monogamy).

The Bush administration has slashed funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which distributes condoms in Africa, where only four condoms a year are available for every man between 15 and 59 years old.

Grace ,why is it the responsibility of the US to provide contraception for the rest of the world?The US trying to be the "World's Policeman"and they can't be responsible for all humanity.There are millions of US citizens living in poverty.Economically the US is in serious trouble because they have spent too much money on weapons for too long.Self interest is part of the motivation,but when a large section of your population is abused in the name of world peace,the wheels begin to fall off.