Thursday, September 19, 2013

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Losing Ground With Evangelicals?

Hopefully this article represents a trend with evangelicals.  The author says she was taught abstinence-only sex "education" ("you shall not have sex before marriage" - end of discussion) and was pregnant the next year - at age 15.  I'm particularly struck by this comment by the author:
Today, nearly half of American high schoolers, aged 14 to 18, are sexually active, according to a Centers for Disease Control survey. Even Christians aren’t waiting until marriage. Among unmarried adult evangelicals under 30, 8 in 10 have had sex. Somebody has to say it: Our approach isn’t working, and it’s time to rethink “the talk.” 
Abstinence-only sex education is worse than worthless - it is counterproductive. Even if conservative parents don't talk to their kids about sex, their kids will get it from other sources - from their friends, the internet, TV, etc. Abstinence-only isn't a conversation with kids about sex, it's basically just a statement - "you will not have sex until you get married".  Studies have shown a very high rate of early sex with kids who have only received the a/o talk.  A high rate of failure resulting in more teen pregnancies, births, adoptions and worst of all, what evangelicals really don't like - abortions.

If you teach ignorance, the results are predictable.

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