Abstinence Only Could be the Sex Ed Solution
Gabrielle Moore | Feb 12, 2010 | Comments 5
I’ve always had a lot of bitterness towards abstinence only sex-education. Coming from a very conservative, Christian town, I’ve seen a lot of teenag
e pregnancies that I believe could have been prevented by some proper contraceptive education. My friends and I grew up being told premarital sex was a sin and that was all we needed to know. The way I learned about sex was not from my parents or even from health class, but from friends who had older siblings that would teach them what they needed to know about the birds and the bees.
Recently, most people have seemed to be of the same mindset, and slowly, abstinence only sex-education has become discouraged. Now however, a new study has come out, suggesting that “abstinence only” education might actually be effective. The one thing that actually made me take this study seriously, and consider that it might have a point, is that it suggests effectiveness of abstinence only education is increased if it’s taught as a theory, not as a moral or religious obligation.
Of course, this study alone can’t dictate how we teach students about sex. The main flaw of this study is that the subjects were 662 African-American students in a Philadelphia middle school- it hardly represents all of the United States. It doesn’t change my opinion, and its not necessarily proof, but it brings up an interesting new argument for the abstinence only side. In my mind, one of the most important things about this study is that abstinence only education can be effective, and it could set forth the idea that combining abstinence only education could be combined with contraceptive education for the most effective safe sex plan possible.
To me, the best part of this study is that the education plan didn’t suggest students would go to hell if they had premarital sex, or tell them they had to wait until marriage. It encouraged students to wait until they were more mature and could make proper decisions. It told students that abstinence was the best way to prevent pregnancy and STDs, not that it would make them morally wholesome.
This study shouldn’t be used as a way for people to push abstinence only education, it would be used to start more studies in different ages and different ethnic groups. It should spark new ideas of the best possible way to teach students about sex. This should not spark a political argument, this should spark new ideas about how to prevent pregnancy and STDs in young adults. The fact that whether or not we should have abstinence only sex education in schools has become a political issue is embarrassing. This should not be a debate, whether it is liberal vs. conservative, Christian vs. non-Christian or even right vs. wrong. This isn’t about whether or not teenagers should be having sex. Everyone is going to have their own opinions on that issue and no amount of arguing will change it.
When 750,000 women under 20 are becoming pregnant in a year, and the United States teen pregnancy rate is starting to rise again for the first time in a decade, something needs to be done. This study is enlightening, and hopefully it will be used positively to help lower the United States’ birth rate, and not to spark political debates. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy provides many statistics and information about legislature and education plans to prevent pregnancy.
What do you think? Is this study enough to show that abstinence only education should be encouraged? Or does a new sex education plan need to be implemented?
Filed Under: Awareness
About the Author: Gabrielle Moore is a Michigan State University journalism student. She's still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up, but she harbors a passion for telling moving and meaningful stories, and appreciates the power of storytelling to influence the world. An animal lover since she can remember, she volunteers at her local animal shelter and is involved with Michigan's Children, pushing for legislative support and funding for children's programs across the state.
I was raised Catholic so abstinence was hit hard as part of my moral and religious commitment to the church. When I was a young teen, I honestly feared that God would come down and smite me somehow if I slipped up. Maybe it kept me from going down that road, I’m not sure, but I don’t believe that fear of God is a good motivator for most.
What is a good motivator is fear of the future. The practical aspects of how life will change if you get pregnant. Combine that with the stats on how often birth control fails and it seems like this would be the best deterrent.
Abstinence needs to be included in sex education programs and not ridiculed by an agenda-driven left. It needs to have a context that relates sex to the overall well-being of an individual and personal esteem and an analysis that sex is all-too-often an escapist solution to other problems, no different than alcohol or drug abuse or overeating. Now does that mean you don’t address contraception? No. What needs to happen in sex education is a broad education that equips young people to make informed decisions for themselves. Do you leave religion and morality out of it? No again. These are important considerations for the individual and society but these issues too need a broad stroke. A broad based sex education program equips the student to deal with the consequences of their actions of which unwanted pregnancy, not to be minimized, is still just one of those consequences. If you can implement a program that agnostically and effectively addresses the whole issue of sex, and study that, you might see some progress in pushing unwanted pregnancy rates lower again and make some happier, better adjusted people too.
[...] moral guidance about sex, only learning about the “health and hygiene consequences.” However, studies have shown that putting a moral or religious overtone on sexual education doesn’t work. Still, the Catholic [...]
I think that we are ignoring the facts real hard, I also believe that “safe-sex” education is a complete failure. In my opinion it has increased the rate at which teenagers have sex, and thus has increased the rate of teen pregnancies and stds. So many people have herpes nowadays, how come that is not discussed? How come you leave out that 1 in 3 sexually active people under 25 has an STD?
When I was in high-school, they told us it was “safe” to have sex, they encouraged this activity by telling us that we can’t get a disease as long as we wear a condom, they didn’t tell us that you can get herpes by kissing someone, or that you could get herpes or other diseases even when you are wearing a condom, just as long as the area with the sore is not covered by a condom is exposed. And that’s just the physical risks, nowhere did they say anything about the psychological effects of having sex without someone and not remaining with them, in a household.
But the truth is that we learn all of these values from the house, from our families and our parents. But as more and more children lose their “morality”, they end up having children out of wedlock, and their children do not get raised with these morals, and in the end their children end up not getting married at all and not having children. The process of evolution has been observed in only one part of society – liberalism.
See for yourself, if condoms were effective, then please tell me why the rate of HIV infections in the US has not been decreasing over the past 10 years? Now, factor in population growth and other things….
Go to the CDC.GOV website and see for yourself, but look past the usual excuses of “better detection techniques”…etc
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/factsheets/incidence.htm
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