The Benefits Of Comprehensive Sex Education

Beginning in the 1970’s, concerns over teen pregnancy- and later HIV/AIDS- stirred far reaching public support for sex education in schools (Sex and HIV 1). Now, for decades, there has been controversy on the proper way to educate young adults about sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases and the different forms birth control. This is a very serious topic because the United States is ranked first among developed nations in rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, while there are still 38 States that still do not require mandated sex education at all and another 41 states do not require sex education to be medically accurate (Stranger-Hall 1). There are many different ways that educators go about teaching students

Comprehensive sex education is defined as a teaching that provides balanced and accurate information on both abstinence and birth control (Lindberg et al. 1). This method takes a broader and varied approach to human sexuality and “seeks to provide students with a broad range of pertinent and factually accurate information (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 8). It teaches both the benefits of remaining abstinent throughout the teenage years and wide-ranging information concerning methods to avoid pregnancy and different diseases (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 8). Comprehensive sex education promotes the core values of mutual respect for both partners, how to be responsible for yourself, and how to resist negative peer pressure (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 8). Many studies have shown that comprehensive sex education will delay the initiation of sexual activities and increase to use of contraceptives in young adults. Proponents of this form of sex education argue that because many teens are sexually active by the time they are finished with high school, they should be instructed about and provided access to contraceptives so as to reduce their risk of pregnancy and STD’s (Trenholm et al. 257). Those who are against comprehensive sex education argue that it is against their faith (that believes sexual intercourse outside of wedlock is a sin) and that it promotes sexual intercourse, are wrong, because it doesn’t.

Abstinence-only education has an exclusive purpose of teaching the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 8). It instructs that sex within marriage is the only way to protect sexual health, teaching that “sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects” and that “abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, STD’s, and other associated health problems” (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 9). Authorized under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the federal government has spent over $170 million annually to finance state and community organizations that provide abstinence-only education to young adults (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 1). In abstinence-only programs, educators define sex as, an act that occurs between married parents of opposite sex; when the father’s erect penis is inserted into the mother’s vagina (Lerner 4). Reviews of abstinence-only curricula have consistently noted that there is “false or misleading public health information, including exaggerations about contraceptive failure rates, the physical and mental health risks of abortion, and the health susceptibilities of the gay population” (Beh, Glenn and Diamond 1). A 2004 review found incorrect information in 11 of 13 federally funded