Abstinence-Only V. Sex-Education Kadija Mohamed

Sex-Education? Education of human sexuality Learn about the human anatomy Learn about all the sexual diseases How to protect yourself using contraceptives and through abstinence Contraceptives (different kinds and how to use them)

Who funds sex-education? (Facts on American..) Majority of the federal money goes to teen pregnancy prevention because there is such a high risk of teen pregnancy. The little amount of money going into Title V Abstinence Only Program suggests that it’s not an effective program.

The following image shows what is being taught in middle (left) and high schools (right). The dark orange shows what is being taught: Abstinence as the most effective method to avoid pregnancy, HIV and other STDs. The lighter orange represents the methods of contraception. As you can see both middle school and high school, the students are not being taught both equally. (Facts on American..)

Did You Know? Currently, 20 states and District of Colombia mandate both sex and HIV education; one state mandates sex education alone, and another 13 states mandate HIV education A total of 37 states require the sex education include abstinence: Twenty- six require that abstinence be stressed, while eleven simply require that it be included as part of the instruction Eighteen states and the District of Columbia require that sex education programs include information on contraception no state requires that it be stressed Thirteen states require that the information presented in sex education classes be medically accurate and factual. (Facts on American Teens..)

Did You Know? Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia require that sex education be age appropriate. In December 2009, Congress replaced the rigid Community-Based Abstinence Education Program with a new $114.5 million teen pregnancy prevention program to support evidence-based interventions, as well as other programs that have demonstrated promise. In March 2010, Congress created through health care reform a five-year Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). Its stated purpose is to educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception and to prepare them for adulthood by teaching such subjects as healthy relationships, financial literacy, parent-child communication and decision-making. Through another provision in the health care reform legislation, congress also renewed the Title V abstinence- only program for five years. This funding stream makes available $50 million annually for grants to the states to promote sexual abstinence outside of marriage. (Facts on American Teens..)

Let’s Ponder for a Second The government spends over $114.5 million dollars to prevent teen pregnancies when we have over 750,000 teen pregnancies each year. No matter the percentage, 750,000 is a massive amount of girls getting pregnant annually. Although the number has declined from the 90’s, Isn’t hard to believe that there were more pregnancies in the 90’s compared to present day? (Facts on American..)

WOAH! (Kliff) I know numbers don’t lie, but I still find it hard to believe that the number of pregnancies has decreased. I mean my old high school had a day care to satisfy the young pregnant girls. I was in high school four years ago!

Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsYEuf8kq_E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyYTJUawAsM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DPlHgvROec These are sample videos of the kind of context that may be in an comprehensive sex-education class.

ABSTINENCE-ONLY

What is abstinence-only? No sex-until marriage Use of contraceptives is not taught Usually taught in a religious institute (some schools choose to teach abstinence-only) Drugs and alcohol and how they play a role in sexual advances Consequences of having children out of wedlock Consequences of having children(psychological) How to say NO

Some abstinence-only programs range just like with sex-education Some abstinence-only programs range just like with sex-education. Some programs might teach everything mentioned in the previous slide, but they also might teach the children about contraceptives or sexually transmitted diseases.

With the way our teens are growing up and all the peer pressure, is it easy to just wait?

Abstinence-only programs have been shown to be ineffective, research has shown that more kids have sex after finishing an abstinence-only programs versus a comprehensive sex-education program. Abstinence-programs rely on implanting fear and shame in the children’s heads, so they see it as a shameful thing.

Who Wins?! Nobody wins! Both comprehensive sex-education and abstinence-only education have their pros and cons. As time passes it seems that the age of kids having sex keeps getting younger and younger. Children shouldn't’t be having sex at the age of 15, it doesn’t matter what religious background you have(if any), it is morally wrong for kids to be having sex, or even promoting it.

Change needs to be made outside of school education. Withholding information (about sex) and giving it freely both have their consequences.

(Hoeren)

Whether the previous picture is true or not isn’t important. What's important is that children having children is happening so often in the United States. How can we change this?

Conclusion It seems that there is no real effective way to keep our teens from having sex. One thing that would make a big difference is teaching our children values. I don’t think parents are taking the time to teach their kids about sex. It’s more than just teaching though, its implementing their values onto them, so they in turn have values of their own. If you tell a child that sex is bad, you’re not really teaching them anything. If you tell them why sex is “bad” or give some logical reason as to why they shouldn't’t be having sex at 11, then that would make the biggest difference in the world.

Citation “Abstinence.” Doitnow. N.p. n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Branston, John. “Sex Education, Abortion, Puberty, and Saturday Mornings.” MemphisFlyer. Contemporary Media, 20 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Davies, J. “Ryan Church Skips Thrid Base in Support of Teen Abstinence.” OhMurph. OhMurph.com, 26 May. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. “Facts on American Teens’ Sources of Information About Sex.” Guttmacher. Guttmacher Institute, Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014 “The Flawed and the Intuitive: Seven Ancient Methods of Birth Control.” BirthControlBuzz. Birthcontrolbuzz.com, 25 Jun. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Citation Continued.. Hoeren, Montana. “Too Much Too Young.”Heruni. Heruni.com, 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Kliff, Sarah. “Most Americans Think Teen Pregnancy is Getting Worst. Most Americans Are Wrong.” WashingtonPost. WashingtonPost.com, 1 Apr. 2103. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. P, Brooke. “Scabies.” Mrscadybiology. Tangient LLC, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. “Real Education for Healthy Youth Act.” TheDataBank. N.p. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. “Teaching Sex EdVoy09 [K, Ashley]. “Sex Education- Knowledge .” Pencourage. Pencourage.com, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Voy09 [K, Ashley]. “Sex Education- Knowledge is the Best Ammunition.” VoicesofYouth. Wordpress.com, 12 May. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.