Sexual liberty
A culture of sexual licence and promiscuity in the UK is costing the taxpayer approximately £100 billion a year, a paper by the Cambridge-based Jubilee Centre has claimed.
This is almost twice as much as alcohol abuse, smoking and obesity combined, the research claims.
In a paper entitled Free sex: who pays? Moral hazard and sexual ethics, the writer, Guy Brandon, argues that sexual freedom has significant costs that are ‘imposed on society as a whole’, representing ‘a moral hazard’.
Statistics quoted in the paper show sexually transmitted infections cost the National Health Service more than £1bn a year. Teenage pregnancies cost the NHS £63m a year, while the rising abortion rate means that 96 per cent of abortions are paid for by the NHS in England and Wales, costing the taxpayers £118m a year.
Writing on his blog, Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said, ‘The Christian sexual ethic of faithfulness and stability has not only spiritual justification but offers a pragmatic answer to a culture that views Christian standards as out of date’ (www.relationshipsfoundation.org).
