Contact: Lindsey Simmons, 513-241-5615 ext 139

CINCINNATI, Sept. 25, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- A recent development in New York City, in which 13 high schools are now giving morning-after pills and other birth-control drugs to students without notifying parents, highlights the troubling and over-sexualized culture in which we live, according to Teresa Tomeo.

Tomeo, a bestselling author and media expert, says this program is an example of the "real" war on women. "In most school districts you need parental permission to distribute aspirin to teens, and yet here officials think nothing of handing out powerful hormonal drugs," Tomeo says. "Girls and women deserve better and they at least need to be told about the potential side effects."

As Tomeo points out, this also puts girls at risk for increased exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. "As one very astute high school student interviewed for this story explained, 'it encourages young people to engage in risky behavior because they know they have a backup plan,'" she says.

In Tomeo's new book collaboration, Wrapped Up: God's Ten Gifts for Women, she and co-author Cheryl Dickow counter these false messages by exploring ten life-giving gifts, such as forgiveness and God's love, that lead to peace and fulfillment while helping women unwrap their true feminine genius.

"Girls don't need to go looking for love and affection in all the wrong places as that old country music song proclaims," says Tomeo. "If they had confidence in themselves and knew how special they are -- created in the image and likeness of God -- they wouldn't feel the need to engage in sex outside of marriage and espouse themselves to such physical and emotional risk."

Wrapped Up is newly released from Servant Books (an imprint of Franciscan Media). Learn more at www.WrappedUpBook.com, or join the conversation on the book's Facebook and Twitter pages: Facebook.com/WrappedUp.book and Twitter.com/WrappedUp_book.