ASUNCI脫N, Paraguay (AP) 鈥� Ahead of her 15th birthday, Diana Zalazar's body had gotten so big she could no longer squeeze into the dress she bought for her quincea帽era to celebrate her passage into womanhood in Paraguay.
Her mother sought help from a doctor, who suspected that growing inside of the 14-year-old Catholic choir girl could be a giant tumor. Next thing Zalazar knew, a gynecologist was wiping down the probe she鈥檇 applied to her belly and informing her that she was in her sixth month of pregnancy.
It made no sense to Zalazar, who had recently had sex for the first time without realizing it could make her pregnant.
In Catholic , which has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in South America, many young mothers explained their teen pregnancies to The Associated Press as the result of growing up in a country where parents avoid the birds and the bees talk at all costs and national sex education is indistinguishable from a hygiene lesson.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 decide to become a mother," Zalazar said. "I didn鈥檛 have a chance to choose because I didn鈥檛 have the knowledge.鈥�
Over the years that Zalazar, now 39, has gone from sexual ignorance and shame to raising her 23-year-old son and advocating for children's rights, Paraguay's lack of sex education has remained unchanged 鈥� until now. For the first time, the Ministry of Education has endorsed a national sex ed curriculum. But in a surprising twist, it's the sexual health educators and feminists who are panicked. Conservative lobbyists are thrilled.
The curriculum, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, promotes abstinence, explains sex as 鈥淕od鈥檚 invention for married people,鈥� warns about the inefficacy of condoms and says nothing of sexual orientation or identity.
鈥淲e have a very strong Judeo-Christian culture that still prevails, and there鈥檚 fierce resistance to anything that goes against our principles,鈥� said Miguel Ortigoza, a key proponent of the curriculum and evangelical pastor from Capitol Ministries, a Washington-based nonprofit that ran .
As a for legal abortion and gay rights scores victories , a conservative backlash has gathered in Paraguay. The country already has among the world鈥檚 strictest abortion laws 鈥� even in cases of , though not when the mother鈥檚 life is in danger.
鈥淟aws everywhere now allow girls to kill their babies, but Paraguay is among the remaining few saying no for Jesus鈥� sake,鈥� said Oscar Avila, manager of an anti-abortion shelter for young mothers in Paraguay鈥檚 capital. At a recent morning Mass, girls no older than 15 filled the pews, some heavily pregnant, others with infants on their hips.
Critics explain the outsized power of Paraguay鈥檚 right-wing pressure groups as the consequence of a peculiar history. The conservative Colorado party has 鈥� including during a dictatorship openly sympathetic to Adolf Hitler.
鈥淕rowing up under the dictatorship, I was told homosexuality is a deviation,鈥� said Sim贸n Cazal, founder of Paraguayan LGBTQ+ rights group SomosGay. 鈥淭he dictatorship legally ended, but the same political clans kept running the show.鈥�
More recently, the has given the governing party鈥檚 platform of religion, family and 鈥減atria,鈥� or fatherland, newer resonance 鈥� emboldening conservative culture warriors with evangelical ties to take their battles to classrooms.
In 2017, Paraguay became the first country to , an unwitting trailblazer for and . Now its sex ed curriculum has become a national flashpoint.
鈥淭he text is very dangerous, it鈥檚 an affront to science,鈥� leftist Sen. Esperanza Mart铆nez told a government committee recently convened to debate the curriculum.
Education Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez downplayed the controversy, stressing there was still time to improve the curriculum before enforcing it. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no expenditure of state funds,鈥� he told lawmakers. 鈥淟et鈥檚 not pass judgement until we do deeper work.鈥�
Authorities assembled teams to revise the curriculum, called 鈥�12 Sciences of Sexuality and Affectivity Education," which it plans to pilot in September across five eastern regions before taking it nationwide. praise the 12 books, one for each grade, as a way of teaching morals and protecting young people.
鈥淚t's a real battle for life, family, the true rights of children and the freedom of parents,鈥� said curriculum author Maria Judith Turriaga. 鈥淚t's the reason parents fought for it to be included in public schools.鈥�
The curriculum instructs children to treat others with respect and cultivate healthy relationships.
But in discouraging contraception and enforcing traditional gender norms, it has become a lightning rod for social tensions. Critics say it perpetuates sexist stereotypes: 鈥淢en conquer, not seduce,鈥� 鈥済irls have smaller and lighter brains,鈥� 鈥渂oys don't cry easily,鈥� 鈥済irls don't like taking risks."
Masturbation, it says, causes "frustration and isolation." Marital love lasts forever. Girls should beware of 鈥渉ow their way of dressing makes men behave.鈥� Female puberty is 鈥渢he body preparing to become a wife and mother.鈥�
The books are filled with unexpected claims, too 鈥� 鈥淏oys do not clearly perceive high-pitched voices," it says.
Any talk of sex is about the heterosexual variety.
鈥淲ithout a truly inclusive education that allows you to understand your reality, it鈥檚 scary,鈥� said Yren Rotela, a trans activist whose identity as female at 13 pushed her into indentured servitude and sex work in a country where transgender identity is not legally recognized, there鈥檚 no legislation recognizing hate crimes and discrimination is widespread.
At a workshop in August, participants voiced alarm over parts of the curriculum emphasizing the duty of obedience to parents and authorities and urging pregnant teens to confide in their families 鈥� even as sexual assault is typically perpetrated in the home.
鈥淚 never got help from my family, they were threatening me not to tell anyone,鈥� said Liliana, who was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at 13, speaking on condition that only her first name be used because her case is under investigation.
The focus on unquestioned deference carries a political charge in Paraguay, where experts say Latin America鈥檚 longest-ruling dictatorship instilled an enduring autocratic tradition.
鈥淚t's easy in this country to create authoritarian projects that play on people's fears,鈥� said Adriana Closs, president of Feipar, a Paraguayan group promoting comprehensive education. 鈥淧olitical factions are taking advantage of this because of the favorable global context.鈥�
As the politics of social conservatism surge from to , Paraguayan lawmakers have found immense promise in agitating against what they hold is a Western conspiracy to feminize boys and make girls gay.
taps into collective trauma from the War of the Triple Alliance, which pitted Paraguay against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, and decimated more than half of its population. Paraguayans still have a habit of invoking the 1865-1870 conflict as if it happened last week.
"Paraguay is the perfect breeding ground for globalist conspiracies,鈥� said Esteban Caballero, adviser for the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, a regional research group. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a fringe group of fanatics promoting this narrative, it鈥檚 a conservative society terrified by nonbinary identities. That means votes.鈥�
Before 2023鈥檚 parliamentary elections, an annual transfer of European Union funds to Paraguay鈥檚 Education Ministry plunged politicians into a galvanizing battle.
Electoral debate pivoted from and neglected schools to accusations that the EU indoctrinates children about 鈥済ender ideology" through its financing agreement, 鈥淭ransforming Education.鈥�
The Senate narrowly rejected a bill that swept through the lower house ordering authorities to repeal EU funds, which in reality support anti-hunger initiatives.
As controversy swirled, European diplomats held a ceremony to change the agreement's name to 鈥淪trengthening Education鈥� for fear the word 鈥渢ransforming鈥� caused offense. President Santiago Pe帽a appeared at Paraguay's biggest evangelical church, promising religious leaders increased influence over the national educational agenda.
鈥淲e see stronger support than in previous times,鈥� Pastor Ortigoza said. 鈥淭here's greater sensitivity to our causes."
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Isabel Debre, The Associated Press
