Costa Rican 2022 Election Update: Sex Education Once Again Polarizes the Political Campaign

There are certain things that Costa Rican society does not seem to want to overcome. Sex education in school and the so-called “gender ideology” are on that list. The very same subject that divided voters four years ago ahead of a run-off election between Carlos Alvarado and Fabricio Alvarado is now making its comeback.

Now, with a few weeks ahead of the April 3 run-off between the presidential candidates José María Figueres and Rodrigo Chaves, and without sex education being really a recurrent debate in the country, both candidates have lashed out against “gender ideology” and vowed to keep sex education out of primary school.

Public education in Costa Rica imparts sex classes only for secondary students, while some private schools have it from primary. Some proposals to extend it to primary in public education have clashed with conservative parents and politicians who oppose children learning about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases prevention.

Sex education has been fundamental in lowering the number of teenage pregnancies in Costa Rica. According to official data, in 2000 a total of 611 girls under 14 years old gave birth, as did 15.999 teenagers of 15 to 19 years. In 2020, there were 222 births from girls under 14 years and around 6,000 in teenagers less than 19 years old.

The current sex education program in the Costa Rican public education system was implemented in 2017 and there have been other extracurricular efforts to tackle this problem. However, both to the government and to the United Nations sex education is regarded as a solution to this and other reproductive- and sexual-related problems.

“The numbers tell us that Costa Rica has improved a lot and that the figures have dropped by almost half in 20 years. But we are still very far from the goal of zero births in girls and adolescents,” said Paula Antezana, from the United Nations Population Fund. The drop in teenage pregnancy is not so high on the coasts, for example.

However, both Figueres and Chaves have made sex education and “gender ideology” a political currency to please conservative voters and institutions such as Catholic and Christian Evangelical churches. But unlike the 2018 run-off between Carlos Alvarado and Fabricio Alvarado, Figueres and Chaves seem to share a similar view on sex ed.

Figueres declares himself “pro-life”

It all started last week when the National Liberation Party (PLN) candidate José María Figueres said in an interview with a Christian pastor that he opposes the teaching of “gender ideology” in schools. He said that the education system has been “colonized” with these sorts of ideologies that he feels have been imported from abroad.

This was controversial because PLN says its ideology is social democracy and is seen as the center-left option in this run-off election. Even Figueres’ potential vice-president, Laura Arguedas, is an LGBT feminist activist, and she says that “gender ideology does not exist and, when that expression is used, it is detrimental to human rights.”

Arguedas and Figueres did a video last week explaining that they can work together while having different opinions regarding human rights. Moreover, Figueres insisted this week that he is not only against “gender ideology” and sex education in school but also against free abortion rights, saying that he has always been “pro-life.”

Asked about this by members of the Catholic church, Figueres said: “I want to say that this is an issue that has divided Costa Rican society. I have been clear in my positions and Mrs. Laura has also been. It is okay that, in a team, in any team, in any institution, people have different criteria.”

“Gender ideology represents different things to different people. In the case of education, for example, there are some currents that want to take the issue of sexuality to primary school levels, where I am convinced that children are not at the stage of their evolution for these subjects to be taught at that early age,” he continued.

Regarding sex education in secondary, the PLN presidential nominee said that it has been a good thing because of the lower teenage pregnancy numbers. He also wrote a letter manifesting his support for the rights of the LGTB community, after his statements were severely criticized by prominent figures linked to this collective.

Chaves, against “cancel culture”

The same Christian pastor that asked Figueres last week about “gender ideology” did the same question to Rodrigo Chaves this week. The Social Democratic Progress Party (PSD) candidate said that he is against using public institutions to promote external ideologies that he deems contrary to the values of Costa Ricans.

Chaves reminded the pastor that some months ago he declined to sign a commitment document of the Costa Rican National Institute for Women (Inamu) because of its “gender ideology” influences. He didn’t sign because he felt the document was pro-abortion and aimed to educate boys and girls under the idea that “gender is fluid.”

“They are going to say that I am a misogynist, that I am a sexist. No. I am not sexist. I have six sisters, eight aunts, two daughters, a wonderful family. Do you know the cancellation culture? Have you heard of that? Cancel culture is something used by certain progressive groups that stick a label on whatever you say: misogynist, bad bug, retrograde,” Chaves said in the interview.

The PSD nominee, who was sanctioned by the World Bank because of sexual harassment towards some of his female co-workers, also promised to fire the top education authorities in the country and replace them with people who do not “try to sell ideas, ideologies foreign to the values of Costa Ricans.”

Chaves has the most chance of winning the April 3 election, according to every poll that has been published since the first electoral round of February 6. New surveys disclosed this week show that he holds a more than 10-points advantage over Figueres, the same scenario that polls from weeks before were projecting.