Stop Teaching Only Abstinence!

There is strong and widespread support of teaching sexual abstinence to American teens. Over 90 percent of parents, at a minimum, want teens to be taught to abstain from sexual activity until they have at least finished high school. (Some 84 percent of parents favor teaching a stronger standard: abstinence until a couple is married or close to marriage.) Teens themselves also favor abstinence education: over 90 percent agree that teens should be taught to abstain from sex until they have at least finished high school. Teaching abstinence is not only very popular; it also makes sense. Social science data show that teens who abstain from sex do substantially better on a wide range of outcomes. For example, teens who abstain from sex are less likely to be depressed and to attempt suicide; to experience STDs; to have children out-of-wedlock; and to live in poverty and welfare dependence as adults, according to The Heritage Foundation. Finally, teens who delay sexual activity are more likely to have stable and enduring marriages as adults. Sexual activity during teenage years poses serious health risks for youths and has long-term implicaï¿½tions. Early sexual activity is associated with an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), reduced psychological and emotional well-being, lower academic achievement, teen pregnancy, and out-of-wedlock childbearing. Many of these risks are avoidable if teens choose to abstain from sexual activï¿½ity. Abstinence is the surest way to avoid the risk of STDs and unwed childbearing. Abstinence education teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected stanï¿½dard for all school age children and stresses the social, psychological, and health benefits of abstiï¿½nence. Abstinence programs also provide youths with valuable life and decision-making skills that lay the foundation for personal responsibility and develï¿½oping healthy relationships and marriages later in life. These programs emphasize preparing young people for future-oriented goals. Opponents of abstinence education contend that these programs fail to influence teen sexual behavï¿½ior. At this stage, the available evidence supports neither this assessment nor the wholesale dismissal of authentic abstinence education programs. Studies have shown that abstinence-based programs have effectively reduced sexual activity and delayed the initiation of sexual activity. For example, the latest evaluation, which examined seventh graders in northern Virginia, reported that, one year after the program, students who received abstinence education were half as likely as non-participants to initiate sexual activity. This result accounted for the existing background differences between program participants and non-participants. That is, the evaluation compared near-identical students except for their participation in the abstinence education program. Abstinence education equips today's youth with the knowledge of the positive benefits of delaying sexual activity and decision-making skills to help them achieve their future goals. Before cutting federal funding for abstinence education programs, policymakers should revisit the original argument for supporting abstinence education--reducing rising teen pregnancy and unwed births--and consider all of the evidence that indicates its effectiveness. http://www.heritage.org...