Sex Education Shoud be Taught Rather Than Abstinence Only

I will be arguing that sex education, (teaching about condom usage, other forms of birth control, and safe sex techniques) will provide a healthier life style and provide one with a firmer base of knowledge about sex and all forms of sexual contact. While my opponent is correct that I feel in sex education one is taught about the countless STD's that can be transmitted during sexual intercourse, he failed to realize that it is not just informing about the disease and what it is, but also how to protect yourself from the disease. Within safe sex education courses, one learns how to go about having sex in a way that is as safe as possible. Students learn to be tested, and have their partner tested for these diseases. Students also learn, that if they have these diseases, safe ways to have sex as to not transmit the disease, mainly through condom use, and or other forms of contraception. Abstinence only program do not teach about testing or contraception. All that is taught in abstinence only programs is "Don't have sex until your married". This provides o knowledge on how to be safe, if your partner has had previous partners and may have one of the numerous diseases my opponent mentioned. There is no knowledge of safety passed in abstinence only programs, and this can lead to unhealthy life styles. "While some teens are not afraid of a bad reputation for haEcving sex others are, they don't want to be that kid, in which case being that kid would cause them depression and so would be a detriment to their health that's why being abstinent doesn't cause depression which help live a healthier life style. Having safe sex might cause pregnancy that not very healthy for a teen; you have school, extra curricular activities, AP exams, honors programs, house problems, etc. So in which case the person pregnant might not be able to deal with pregnancy which does not cause a safe and healthy life style." Although this paragraph is very choppy and somewhat difficult to understand I believe the main points from this are that some teens feel they will have a bad reputation for having sex, which may cause depression, which would be a detriment to ones health. Another point within the argument is that having safe sex may cause pregnancy, which would not be healthy for teens, being that they have countless school activities such as AP classes, athletics, extra curricular activities, and home issues, which would cause countless problems for the young adult. Although these are valid statements, in that pregnancy would complicate a youths schooling, and that being a person singled out and made to feel awkward, this does not really provide any argument as to why abstinence only education is better, and safe sex education is inferior. Having safe sex would not single out a child, thus preventing the depression my opponent discussed. Safe sex education may actually do the opposite, in that if a person wants to have sex, they can go to a more experienced person and talk about how to protect themselves and obtain the necessary contraception. Also, Safe sex education tells that sex is part of nature and no one should be embarrassed about it, especially when buying contraception, thus safe sex education may actually create a sense of relief within the students. If a student does become pregnant, then the sex they had may not have been safe sex. Condoms are proven to be 99% effective, and when used with another form of contraception, such as birth control, pregnancies are pretty much impossible. Safe sex education educates about these two forms of contraception, and how to use them properly, where abstinence only does not. If a person who learned abstinence only, wanted to have sexual intercourse for the first time, odds are they would not know about condoms or birth control, making the experience one in which pregnancy is a lot more likely to occur. I feel that this will not be a healthy lifestyle. "In Uganda there was about to be an AIDS epidemic they used an ABC program abstinence, be faithful, and condoms. Granted their were C's but what helped these people was monogamy and abstinence. They went from 21% in 1991 to 6% in 2000 thanks to abstaining from sex before marriage and abstaining from sex outside marriage. While sex education might be realistic abstinence cause for a safer and healthier life style." Safe sex education does also teach about abstinence(look to definition of sex education), so this method i believe would be a safe sex method, especially because there was the "C" in the method, which was condom. And the percentages, are these percents of AID's cases, and is the information provided not based on a third factor, which may be the mortality of the people from the poll given in 1991, creating the dip in the stats. Are the percents of new cases or cases overall? Abstinence only provides no education, and no knowledge about sex. Sex is seen as taboo, and something only married people do, and is used for procreation. Safe sex education, provides a foundation for wise choices, and allows for those who are ready to experience a wonderful bond in a relationship, and allows for those who have sexual intercourse to be safe while doing so. These individuals who learn sex education will have the knowledge to stay disease free, and enjoy the sexual experience, in a healthy and safe way, leading to healthy and safe lives.