From this article at the Seattle Times.
New data from a large government survey show that by every measure, the decade long decline in sexual activity among high-school students leveled off between 2001 and 2007 and the increase in condom use by teens flattened in 2003.
The article also comments on previous reports saying
…that one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease and that the teen birthrate has increased for the first time in 15 years…
And further
“Since we’ve started pushing abstinence, we have seen no change in the numbers on sexual activity…. The other piece of it is abstinence education spends a good amount of time bashing condoms. So it’s not surprising, if that’s the message young people are getting, that we’re seeing condom use start to decrease.”
And finally
The proportion of teenagers reporting having sexual intercourse rose steadily through the 1970s and 1980s, fueling a sharp rise in teen pregnancy. The trend reversed around 1991. At the same time, more sexually active teens started using condoms and other forms of contraception. Together, the trends have pushed the U.S. teen-pregnancy rate to historic lows.
Well. It seems that abstinence only sex-ed has had the opposite effect of what was hoped for. Instead of continuing to decrease the teen-pregnancy rate it has helped to increase the rate by providing poor information on any paths other than absolute abstinence.
It is impossible to force someone to your way of thinking. I agree that reminding students that abstinence is the only fool proof way of avoiding pregnancy is a good thing. However, you cannot assume that everyone who hears that message will be abstinent. Thus it is important to teach students about as many working methods of birth control and STD prevention as possible, and also how well they work.
Ok everyone, it’s time to start teaching students about sex properly. Yes, abstinence is good, but not everyone will follow that path. Thus we must teach students how to protect themselves.
The only way to completely avoid death when riding a motorcycle is to not ride one. But since a lot of people enjoy motorcycles, perhaps we should teach how to ride one safely as well.
