Abstinence-Only Programs Don’t Work
Abstinence education is an important component of comprehensive sex education, but by itself it is not enough. The past decade has demonstrated conclusively that abstinence-only programs don't work.
Since 1996, there have been major expansions in federal support for “abstinence-only until marriage” (AOUM) programs. Federally funded abstinence-only programs require the exclusive teaching of abstinence-only until marriage and prohibit teaching about condoms or other contraceptives—other than to discuss failure rates. To date, AOUM programs that conform to the eight point criteria established by the federal government and focus exclusively on promoting abstinence until marriage have not shown credible evidence of significantly delaying sexual initiation or reducing the frequency of sexual intercourse.
And while abstinence from sexual intercourse is theoretically fully protective against pregnancy and disease, in actual practice abstinence often fails. In a nationally representative study of adolescents aged 12-17 years, 88 percent of adolescents who took virginity pledges within AOUM programs reported engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage. Additionally, the study reported that adolescents who took virginity pledges were less likely to use condoms when they became sexually active, more likely to engage in oral-genital and anogenital sexual behaviors, and less likely to seek and obtain care for STIs than non-pledgers.
A congressional report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman in December 2004 on AOUM programs commonly supported by the U.S. federal programs found that 11 of the 13 most frequently used curricula contained false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health, including inaccurate information about contraceptive effectiveness, risks of abortion and other scientific errors. In addition, these curricula treat gender stereotypes as scientific fact, impose moral judgments and blur religious with scientific viewpoints.
The lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of AOUM programs, as well as evidence demonstrating the potential harm such programs have on adolescents' sexual health, have led 17 states to withdraw from Title V AOUM funding, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
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88% said they would wait until marriage and didn't. That says something. I wonder how many of those have/had STDs or unplanned pregnancies because no one taught them safe sex. At my high-school there is very little sex-ed. We're only required to take a semester of ' health ' which barely goes into sexaul education at all. Of all my friends that have sex, I don't know ONE that uses condoms.
If teens would listen to abstinence only programs then I would have no objection to schools teaching only abstinence. The problem, however, is that as said in this article 88% of teens will have sex before marriage. This is a clear indicator that teaching abstinence only will not work. If teens are going to have sex anyway wouldn't you want them well informed on how to use contraceptives and how to stay safe from STD's?
I have to say the article is pretty much 100% correct. Abstinence only sex-ed programs don't work. The fact of the matter is that teens are going to have sex, and we need to make sure they know all the facts and consequences of their actions. Teens need to know what STDs are and how to prevent them if the have sex, and abstinence only sex-ed programs dont't get that message across.
Certainly, any teen may take a pledge to purity, with great intentions. But in reality, 88% of them end up breaking their pledge. So we MUST have a back-up plan, and this is why abstienence-only programs just don't work. Although abstinence is the ideal, we must educate teens about birth control, STDS, and the psycological effects of engaging in sexual intercourse. In the here and now, abstience oaths sounds like the straight and narrow, but when caught in the heat of the moment, teens are highly likely to fall off the path.
Truthfully, I can't believe that health teachers go home at night and belive they truly stopped some underage pregnancy. In reality, no teacher, parent, pastor, or anyone can stop it, besides the teens themselves. So not teaching teens how to prevent and just saying "don't do it" really hurts them in the long run. Plus, teenagers lie all the time. Saying some oath is just like lying about what they're doing on a saturday night. They sugar-coat everything to make it sound better to their parents and themselves. Every person goes through the same pressures and problems. Teachers and adults just need to try to help and not try to live for these teens.
In a perfect world it would be wonderful to teach abstinence-only and to believe that this would work for all children. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and we much education young adults about the need for safe sex. We can put our heads in the sand and pretend that our abstinence teaching works wonders, but it's just not the case. Look at the statistics. So what are we to do? Teach abstinence first, but also, we must teach children about safe sex.