ipl-logo

Abstinence-Only Education

680 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of sex education to students

Why Abstinence-Only Education Doesn’t Work Abstinence-only education, a form of sex education that focuses solely on remaining abstinent until marriage, is not only ineffective but is actually providing a disservice to the youth of America. This type of educational program preaches that the only sure fire way to avoid unwanted pregnancy and to remain (sexually transmitted) disease free is to not have sex. Of course, this is true and should be made abundantly clear, but nearly half of the high schoolers in America have already had sex by the time they participate in a sexual education class or program ("Abstinence Education Programs Are Not Effective"). The reality is that telling kids to “just not have sex”, or scaring them with statistics …show more content…

School sex education programs are not only responsible for providing information for high school students, but to also provide those students with knowledge that they can carry beyond their high school years. So, whether the student is currently engaging in sex or not, they are still being served an injustice by the educational system because at some point in their life, they probably will become sexual active. When that time comes, they need to know how to keep themselves safe and healthy because the moral dilemma of whether having premarital sex is right or wrong should not be left to the school or the state. The education system’s duty is to merely provide education and guidance. There are 900,000 teenage (between ages 15 and 19) pregnancies a year, with 78% of them being unplanned (Richards). A large percentage of these unintentional pregnancies could have been prevented if those teenagers had been properly informed. Instead, programs continue to fail students. In addition to that, 4 million teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease each year (Richards). These diseases can vary from a mild infection that is easily treatable to an infection or virus that can lead to infertility, or even worse, is life threatening such as HIV. Schools are literally gambling with students’ lives by not …show more content…

In fact, national data shows that the “more strongly abstinence is emphasized in state laws and policies, the higher the average teenage pregnancy and birth rate” (Stanger-Hall). However, studies showed the opposite effect for states that offered a comprehensive approach to sex education, providing information about methods of birth control and contraception, along with encouraging abstinence. Those states tended to have the lowest teen pregnancy rates (Stanger-Hall and

Show More
Related
1424 Words | 6 Pages

Assignment #2 HCM 3651: Public Health Epidemiology Total Possible Points: 100 Name: Fartun Faray Instructions: Visit the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website at www.colorado.gov/cdphe and complete the activities below. 1) In the main navigation bar of the home page click "Data".

Read More
360 Words | 2 Pages

Emma Elliott, a writer for the Concerned Women for America organization, compiled a pamphlet in 2005 in support of an abstinence-only based sexual education system. Elliott establishes her argument in a unique countering organization. She presents a popular claim about sexual education and then refutes it with a reason supporting abstinence. In general, she includes eight mainstream beliefs. The first one is rather general where she refutes that “Abstinence education doesn't work”, and she continues to say that is does and backs up her argument with multiple studies, such as the program “Best Friends” caused 80% less possibility of sexual activity.

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

It is also important that we provide accurate and proven sexual classes to our students. More than 80% of Americans believe that a form of sexual education should be taught in schools.5 The majority of these people believe that this education should be focused on various forms of birth control. Currently the federal government provides funds for these evidence-based types of education through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative and the Personal Responsibility Education Program. I will support programs that seek to expand funding for programs that teach a variety of birth control methods

Read More
1467 Words | 6 Pages

Professor Ross Government 2306 8 February 2015 Is Abstinence-only education the correct approach for Texas? Owning one of the highest rates of teen pregnancies in the Union, Texas has an abstinence only approach in sexual education to try to reduce pregnancies? In addition to this, Texas ranks first as being the top spender in sexual education, but can’t get solidified results out of its spending. Texas doesn’t teach anything about contraception, how the Texas Department of State Health Services has said that the mission of the program is to delay sexual actions among teenagers until they are old enough, and the use of abstinence only education to protect children from explicit content only to find out in their own way leads to curiosity

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

I find that just preaching abstinence, as the only way to go is not effective sexual education. It’s key that we teach about birth control and Sexually Transmitted Infections as our society is becoming more sexually active so it’s important that they learn how to have safe sex. Planned Parenthood encourages its patients to make informed decisions and provide an environment where they feel comfortable to ask any questions. If people don’t practice safe sex, they are at risk of getting a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STIs).

Read More
891 Words | 4 Pages

Meaning, if people don’t have to worry about accidentally having a baby, then they’re going to have sex more. Further decreasing the value. The Star writes, “Sexual promiscuity is mandated by the state, birth control pills are worn on women’s belts, if pills fail, abortion is available.” (The Star) Sex used to commonly be between only a married couple. Whereas now teenagers do it, adults do it, and age of consent laws are at strikingly low numbers.

Read More
1144 Words | 5 Pages

Abstinence-only programs are a form of sexual education that encourages and teaches not having sex outside of marriage. There has been a great deal of debate over if abstinence programs work amongst children and adolescents. Each of my three articles examined a different abstinence-only program that was administrated to children and adolescents. Through the L.I Teen Freedom program, the adolescents increased in indicators such as pro-abstinence attitudes, self efficacy to remain abstinent and interventions and behaviors to practice abstinence (Rue et al., 2012). Through the program, Family Action Model for Empowerment the participants decreased in the risky sexual behavior (Abel et al., 2008).

Read More
204 Words | 1 Pages

There are many downsides to each of these teaching methods. Many would argue Abstinence-only programs do not offer knowledge that is critical to one’s sexual coming of age which is key to having a healthy life. One could also argue the Comprehensive Method does not teach moral values of sex and the connections between partners which are key to a healthy relationship. The Balanced Method does the best at dealing with the issues caused by both, but many feel it gives a confusing messages to adolescents. For example, it is like telling a kid, “Do not eat any candy after school” but then putting candy in front of their face tempting them to eat it.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rates, but we also have the most resources to fix this problem. When used correctly, birth control is 99.7% effective.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

It is important to practice abstinence because abstinence is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy. Although mony birth control methods can have high rates of success if used properly, they can fail occasionally. There are many reasons why you should practice abstinence and I am going to give you eight reasons why you should practice abstinence. Eight reasons why you should practice abstinence are pregnancy, STDs, depression if there is a break up in a relationship, boundaries in a relationship sexually, takes off pressure, suicide attempts, your personality, and lastly your potential to achieve well in school.

Read More
509 Words | 3 Pages

In the article “Teens and Sex in Dad’s House,” Marcotte describes relevant information how rates of cohabitation are rising? and if parents should permit it and instruct their children from having sex. Cohabitation is the condition of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married. Couples progressively favor living together to marriage. The people consider this attitude as bad.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

The study is anchored on the theory about an argue that abortion is an ex postbirth control method that provides sexually active women (at risk of a pregnancy) insurance in the event of an unintended pregnancy. The option to have an abortion of an unintended pregnancy lowers the cost to women of engaging in risky (noncontracepted) sexual activity. As the cost of an abortion increases, due to the enforcement of restrictive abortion laws, the cost of this unintended pregnancy insurance policy increases, which may induce women to alter their risky sexual behavior in ways that reduce the likelihood of an unintended pregnancy. In response to these restrictive abortion laws, women may change their frequency of unprotected sexual

Read More
947 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction 1. Attention Getter: The provision of sex education in schools has been a controversial subject matter among different education stakeholders ranging from parents to educators. A focus, however, on the prevalence of adolescents’ abortion, pregnancy, and HIV and AIDS rates indicates significantly high rates.

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

II. 1st paragraph: Studies done in the University of Georgia show the importance of sex education in a macro scale of just the US, but other research has been done on a micro scale in Memphis, Tennessee that other angles like economics must also be taken into account as to what the consequences are of no sex education or abstinence-only education. A. A

Read More
829 Words | 4 Pages

In today’s modern society, sex education is seen as one of the seven plagues of Egypt. Let’s face reality, kids as young as 10 years old are having sex. According to the public health data, the chlamydia rate among teenagers have sky rocked by 80 per cent in the past two decades. Is this the result of ignorance or the lack of knowledge? In the article “The Sex Ed Revolution: a portrait of the powerful political bloc that’s waging war on Queen’s Park” by Nicholas Hune-Brown, published in Toronto Life magazine on September, 3, 2015 parents are opposed to the new sex education curriculum for various reasons.

Read More

More about Abstinence-Only Education

Related Topics

Open Document