SPUC are running a campaign about sex education in schools at the moment, called Safe in Schools. At my last school I had direct experience of what happens when the Local Health Authority (via the school nurse) is given a free hand in providing the input on this. Personally, I think it amounts to child abuse: children (for that is what they are) are being encouraged to experiment with sex, to mess up their bodies with drugs - by going on the pill or by using the morning after pill - to avoid discussing matters like this with their parents or teachers (under the guise of confidentiality) and to view surgical abortion as another method of contraception.
In no other area would we approach things this way. It is something akin to saying "Hey, we know that you youngsters will experiment with heroin. We want you to be able to do it safely, so here's a free syringe and Tuesday period 1 we'll show you how to shoot up. Oh, and it's ok - we won't mention this to your parents. Fine, now for homework, study the diagram on page 23 and see if you can find the definitions of smack, grass, blow and crack..."
Church teaching on the matter is rarely taught properly, often because parents and teachers are woefully ill-informed themselves, and this is in no small way due to the fact that priests and bishops in this country have not attempted to defend the Church's position. Far too rarely is Humanae Vitae promoted positively. And so most people - and for many years I was one of them - hear about the Church's teaching on sexual matters as something to snigger at (the Vatican Roulette gags spring to mind), something which normal, rational people didn't actually follow.
I feel pretty strongly about this... I shall do a proper post on it soon.
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