EP
Thursday, March 07, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (EP) -- A group calling itself Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust says it succeeded in getting the Red Cross to stop distributing its “safe sex” kits – complete with flavored condoms – at the recent Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. According to Dan McCullough, director of the pro-life youth group, the Survivors joined another pro-life group, Generation Life, in drawing attention to the joint plan of the Red Cross, Planned Parenthood, and the Salt Lake organizers committee to hand out the condom kits to athletes and spectators at the games.

“We felt it was particularly bad that the Red Cross was engaging in distributing the condoms,” McCullough told EP News. “We went to the Red Cross offices in Salt Lake City, and staged a protest. We also went in and talked to someone from the Red Cross and let them know that we felt it was very wrong for them to be giving out condoms.”

McCullough said the protestors pointed out that the Red Cross was handing out false security, and argued that condoms offer little protection against sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies.

What was particularly unacceptable to the protestors was the fact that the Red Cross volunteers were giving the condom packs out to minors – including a 14-year-old member of the Survivors group. McCullough explained that the girl “didn’t even ask for a ‘safe sex’ kit. She simply went up to a Red Cross volunteer and asked, ‘Are you with the Red Cross?’” The Red Cross volunteer responded by handing a pack of “flavored” condoms to the girl.

McCullough stated that by Friday the Red Cross had suspended its distribution of the condoms at the Olympics venue. He said that a spokesperson for the local Red Cross in Salt Lake City had conceded that pressure from the protestors had influenced their decision to cease the project.