For the Betterment of Teens

Although abstinence is the ideal situation, telling teens to just stay pure until marriage isn’t going to make them quit wanting to have sex or quit having it.  These abstinence-only programs don’t teach teens about protecting themselves, just about a personal decision, which has nothing to do with  teachers.  Kids today need to hear more than all abstinence all the time.  These classes might not affect a teen, but they could hurt the teen adversely.

The validity of abstince-only programs has proven to be an issue.  Advocates for Youth states that in a House Government Reform Committee, they reviewed thirteen of the commonly used abstinence-only curricula taught across the United States (Advocates for Youth).  Eleven of the thirteen programs “blurred religion and science” and “contained unproven claims and subjective conclusions.”  These included: A 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person.”  Pregnancy can result from touching another person’s genitals.  HIV can be spread via sweat and tears.   Half of gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for HIV.  How can abstinence-only programs help teens learn if they aren’t even based on truth?

Teens may be at an even higher risk for STD’s and pregnancy if they do take these abstinence-only programs.  NARAL states that these programs “fail to provide information about contraception beyond failure rates” (NARAL). Without accurate information on protection, teens may go without contraception all together.  Without censoring teachers, these programs could “endanger the reproductive health” of teens.  Why increase the risk of STD’s already high enough?

To me, it seems clear that these programs should be stopped, for the betterment of teens today.