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Essay On Abstinence Education Programs

547 Words3 Pages

Abstinence Education Programs Should Be Eliminated Despite various studies that have proven abstinence-only programs to be ineffective at delaying sexual activity initiation, reducing the number of sexual partners, or reducing the teen pregnancy rate, federal government continues to support these programs. Federal government has invested more than $1.5 billion on them over the past thirty years (Watkins). Abstinence- only- until- marriage programs mislead adolescents with inaccurate information instead of providing scientifically proven facts. These programs are more harmful than helpful and should be eliminated for their ineffectiveness. One reason why abstinence only until marriage programs are ineffective is because they promote extreme religious ideas. Programs like these do not provide teens with complete sexual health information, instead, it encourages one specific set of social values. Abstinence-only programs emphasize marriage and exclude gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens. Furthermore, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs contain fear and shame based messages to convince …show more content…

These programs deny teens scientifically proven and lifesaving information such as how to use condoms to protect themselves against STIs. SIECUS reviewed a curricula called WAIT Training used in abstinence-only programs and found that it contained limited medical information and hardly no information about STIs, including HIV/AIDS. Research from 2009 shows that 46 percent of adolescents in the United States have already had sex. Teens need information on how they can protect themselves from unplanned pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases before they are sexually active (Watkins). Abstinence-only programs violates teen’s human right by withholding important information that enables them to make informed

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Abstinence is an extreme way of preventing sexual consequences. It’s easy for an adult to tell a teen to abstain from sex but that teen has outside factors trying to convince them to go against such teachings and they eventually engage in a sexual act unprotected because they were taught to abstain and not protect, leading to either a disease or pregnancy. As the old saying goes “Curiosity killed the cat.” So instead of Texas’ teens learning the hard way of their actions and potentially making a dire mistake, why not teach them to be safe with their actions, it makes more sense and holds more positive results. Teens nowadays are more progressive thinking than the generations before us.

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