Abstinence Education Works Anywhere
Since the first True Love Waits national celebration took place in July 1994, when more than 210,000 covenant cards were displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., an estimated 2.5 to 3 million youth have signed commitment cards pledging sexual purity until their wedding day. That number continues to grow worldwide. Does each person that signs a pledge keep it? No, but scores of young people do keep this commitment to themselves – and to their future spouse. Each one that remains faithful is a victory.
One of the best examples of how effective promoting abstinence can be comes from a place that knows all too well the dangers of widespread sexual promiscuity: Uganda, Africa, which in 1987 had the highest reported prevalence rate (the percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS) in the world.
In 1993, True Love Waits became a catalyst in Uganda for bringing people together around the abstinence message in schools, youth groups, communities and other places. In the years that followed, Uganda’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, which in parts of the country was above 30 percent, dropped to the current rate of 6.7 percent. Some leaders there say that this turnaround has literally saved a generation.
True Love Waits presentations are routinely made in schools in Uganda and Kenya. One high school principal in East Africa commented that this type of presentation should be made in every high school on the continent because it could change the course of history in Africa.
Giving teens a positive message about the benefits of remaining abstinent until marriage, whether in the U.S., Africa or other parts of the world, produces the same result: More young people with healthy lives, enhanced self-respect and a hope for the future.
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Pro-abstinence education groups like to say abstinence is 100% successful. As this interview shows, abstinence EDUCATION is not 100% successful.
I thought Bristol's interview was very thoughtful. She's been through a lot, and she's trying to make the best of it. It's great that she has strong support from her family. I wish her well, but I would remind folks that not everyone for whom abstinence education ends if failure have that type of support available. We owe them straight talk about sex.
Not all the kids that take the true love waits oath is going to keep it. I mean seriously. I have seen people take that pledge and turn around and break it. Some people just take it because they are thinking, "what will I look like if I don't take this pledge?" So I mean its not like everybody takes it seriously. Abstinence sex-ed is good, just not abstinence only sex-ed.
First of all,I think every person is a victory in some way. This says that the kids who make it to marriage are victories. What does that leave for those kids who can't take the peer pressure? Are they failures? Will they not find spouses because of a mistake in high school? This can't be true. Plus, bringing up the kids in Uganda and Kenya isn't going to inspire kids in America. Why would we want to be like them? Yes, sending a positive message is amazing for teenagers because we all get enough negative as it is. But one message won't carry self-respect in a hand basket. Each person has to find that on their own. So True Love Waits can speak to some people, but for others listening to some guy preach about their personal lives won't help at all.
Yeah, I agree that "True Love Waits" will definitely work to persuade adolescents in places like Uganda and Africa to stay pure until marriage, but I am not so convinced it will make such an impact on U.S. kids. Unlike the children in Uganda and Africa, American teenagers are constantly subjected to a media that seems to scream, SEX SELLS. The music that American teens listen to is jam-packed with sexual slurs and innuendos, reality shows have "hook-up" scenes for entertainment, and sex seems to be a hot topic at lunch tables in high school cafeterias. Teens see these things in the media and begin to accept it as the norm. In other words, everyone is having sex, no one waits, thats just the way it is.
Like most of the arguments from Lifeway, this badly confuses "abstinence education" with "abstinence-ONLY education." I think there are few out there who believe abstinence is a bad option or shouldn't be taught. The success of True Love Waits and other similar ideas is great... not that I believe that the wedding day is the right time to become sexually active, but because those involved are taking control of their sexuality through deliberate thought, which can only be good for them.
But abstinence-only education in schools is a different thing.
Finally someone has come out and said it. Abstinence-only education and abstinence education aren't the same thing. Sure abstinence is a sure fired way to avoid pregnancy and STIs but it shouldn't be the only thing taught. Kids should be learning about EVERY available option to keep themselves safe.