Abstinence-Only Education

Is Abstinence-Only Enough?

In 2008, the Washington Post reported that teenagers who received comprehensive sex education were 60% less likely to get pregnant than someone who received abstinence-only education. Abstinence-only sex education is a form of sex education that teaches not having sex outside of marriage. It does not teach anything about other parts of sexual education that is very important for young teens to know. Abstinence-Only programs do not delay sexual initiation, lower rates of teen pregnancy or STD's. I believe that it should be mandatory that schools have to teach comprehensive education because over half of all teens admit to looking up sexual health information online. Comprehensive education states still have higher

We not only need to require that comprehensive be taught at all schools, but we need to upgrade our comprehensive education system. According to Stranger-Hall, “Even in states with comprehensive sex education, rates are still higher than seen in Europe”. The Guttmacher Institute states that 26 states require that sexual education be appropriate; sexual education is teaching students about sex, it is not going to be appropriate at any time. The Guttmacher Institute also states that “Eighteen states and the District of Columbia require that sex education programs include information on contraception; no state requires that it be stressed”. Although our rates of teen and unplanned pregnancy are still very high compared to other countries, birth rates for teens aged 15-19 are on the decline according to Matt

Advocates for Youth put in their article about abstinence-only programs, “When condoms are used correctly and consistently, they can help prevent the spread of HPV and can reduce the risk of HPV-associated diseases”. They also state that, ““When a couple uses condoms consistently and correctly at every act of vaginal intercourse, a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant is less than 3%”. When students and teens are being taught about abstinence-only, how do they know about contraceptives and using them? “Formal instruction may not be skills-based; only 50% of teen females and 58% of teen males received formal instruction about how to use a condom” (Guttmacher Institute). Guttmacher Institutes’ article “American Teens” talks about teens being uncomfortable talking about sexual health issues and discussing them with their parents, and even says, ““More than half (55%) of 7th-12th grades say they have looked up health information online in order to learn more about an issue affecting themselves or someone they know”. Then they go on to say, ““Despite declines in formal sex education between 2006-2010 and 2011-2013, the share of teens talking with their parents about most sex education topics has not changed” which is very good that some teens are still able to talk to their parents about sexual topics. However, parents might not be educated themselves, “Even when parents provide information,