The More You Know the Better

The More You Know the Better

  • Submitted By: melissa329
  • Date Submitted: 02/01/2010 6:34 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 721
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 352

In the United States the federal government has spent over a hundred million dollars annually to subsidize states and community organizations that provide abstinence-only sex education. Many religious and conservative political groups such as the Bush administration have waged strong campaigns in favor of abstinence-only programs. But throughout recent years reviews of studies have implemented that comprehensive sex education (abstinence-plus programs) can reduce behaviors that put young people at risk. This has caused much debate throughout the past years if public schools should be teaching teenagers on how to have safe sex or teaching them about waiting to have sex until marriage. The main purpose of sex education in high school is to lower down the number of pregnancies and STDs each year. The truth of the matter is that abstinence-only education does not give comprehensive knowledge about sex including contraception and the risks of intercourse, therefore making it ineffective.
The approach of abstinence-only program is based on abstaining from sex until marriage which argues that it ensures one hundred percent of avoiding getting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted infections (STDs or STIs) and unintended pregnancy. Also, the use of condoms is not one-hundred percent effective, especially when used by young people inexperienced on how to use them properly. This of course is true; if you don’t have sex you won’t get pregnant and using a condom does not guarantee someone from not getting pregnant. Studies have suggested for some young people making pledges to abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage does lead to delay in the timing of their first time. But most teenagers who have gone through the abstinence program still end up being sexually active before marriage not using any kind of protection and even having not just one partner but multiple partners. This program instead doesn’t acknowledge that teens will become...

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