The Obama Administration's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships announced an Advisory Council and four key priorities this week.  In addition to addressing poverty and promoting interfaith dialogue, the priorities consider "how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion," and call for "encouraging responsible fatherhood."   

Notice how women are paired with children and pregnancy/abortion concerns.  Men apparently only need help with fatherhood.  This gendered pairing strikes me as paternalistic and misguided.  

For one thing, the issue of abortion isn't just about teens and unwed mothers.  Married women have abortions, too.  Many women who make a moral decision to have an abortion do so with a male partner's support -- does that fit the Advisory Council's definition of responsible fatherhood?  As the Religious Institute says in our Open Letter on Abortion as a Moral Decision, 

We affirm women as moral agents who have the capacity, right and responsibility to make the decision as to whether or not abortion is justified in their specific circumstances. That decision is best made when it includes a well-informed conscience, serious reflection, insights from her faith and values, and consultation with a caring partner, family members, and spiritual counselor. Men have a moral obligation to acknowledge and support women's decision-making.

Also, reducing the need for abortion requires more than addressing teen pregnancy.  I pray the members of the Council will not set up roadblocks to abortion access as part of a "reduction" strategy.  I pray, rather, that they agree that one way to ensure that any woman, teenage or older, will not face the moral decision to have an abortion is to reduce unintentional pregnancies.  I'm not the first to make this observation and won't be the last. 

"Addressing teen pregnancy" does not automatically translate into effective strategies to reduce teen pregnancy.  Young women and men need comprehensive sexuality education and access to contraception.  So do adults, both single and married.

As a faith-based initiative, the new office must also recognize that "faith matters" when it comes to delaying mature sexual behaviors, which can affect teen pregnancy rates.  I am not talking about abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.  We know they don't work!  Active, consistent involvement in a faith community does. 

As a 2003 study by the Christian Community found "A strong connection to adults in the congregation; the provision of information on how to make sexual decisions; and the portrayal of sex in a healthy and positive way are strong contributing factors to these teens who were the least likely in the study to have had intercourse...Clearly caring adults in the congregation have a significant role to play."  Teens need attentive leaders, teachers and parents to help them make responsible moral decisions. They need positive examples of good sexual decision-making (something a faith community can offer), and accurate information presented in the context of their faith values.

So far, only four women have been named to the President's Advisory Council.  Four out of 15 spots doesn't cut it so long as women make up half the population and are central to the Council's stated priorities.  Ten more members are still to be appointed; perhaps the Obama administration will appoint female role models for the young women they are trying to support. 

How about a woman who is a member of the clergy, or a feminist who has worked her whole life in faith communities to support women and girls?  Now that would be a role model for young women of faith! 

When these women are invited to participate on the Council, I hope they will suggest that President Obama edit the four priorities to read: "encourage responsible sexual decision-making" (by men and women) and "reduce teen pregnancy through comprehensive sexuality education."  These revisions will help us move beyond gendered priorities and put the focus on healthy sexuality. Those seem to fit better - scientifically, practically, and faithfully - not only with reducing the need for abortion, but with encouraging strong parenting and challenging poverty as well.