Lazarus Austin is a junior majoring in history. He can be contacted at [email protected].Many public officials are pushing for abstinence-only education in schools and by parents. Abstinence-til-marriage programs work in public schools and in the community to teach children and young adults that they should wait until they are married to have sex.
These projects have good intentions, but the problem is that people don’t abstain.
Despite all their efforts, many studies show that children who receive abstinence-only education are just as likely to engage in sex and get a sexually transmitted disease or an unwanted pregnancy as their peers.
Admittedly, the studies are ambiguous, and the figures do not point in any one direction.
However, that is exactly the point: Abstinence-only education is not making a big enough impact.
On the other hand, safe sex education coupled with abstinence education has been shown to reduce STDs and unwanted pregnancies in teens.
Safe sex programs teach kids to engage in sex through the use of condoms, birth control pills and other methods, including abstinence.
Many programs and schools not only teach methods of safe sex but also provide the resources for them to do so by distributing condoms or birth-control pills.
If safe sex education works so well, then why are people so reluctant to teach it? First of all, because abstinence-only education is easier. Many people are not as comfortable teaching safe sex methods as they are simply saying, “Don’t do it.”
Public misconceptions have led people to think safe sex education encourages kids to have sex.
As a result, sex education is often considered to be sexual indoctrination.
Many people are stuck in a religious rut. Some think it is a violation of their religious beliefs.
I don’t want to argue religion, but by discouraging safe sex, they are encouraging STDs and unwanted pregnancies.
Let’s face it: Unsafe sex is unnecessary. However, people “do it” anyway.
Whether it is bad or not, sexual activity, as alcohol, has become a social norm, especially for teenagers.
In order to combat it, we need to get out of our state of denial and accept it as fact. Then, we can move on and do what we can to avoid the negative side effects of sex. That includes teaching the use of condoms, birth-control pills and abstinence.
Abstinence-only educators need to divert their resources and put them to better use.
In Mississippi, we have the third-highest rate of unwanted pregnancies in the nation. Unwanted pregnancies, along with STDs, hurt our healthcare system by making taxpayers pay for people’s mistakes.
Not only do they hurt our healthcare system, but they also have many other negative side effects.
Children born after unwanted pregnancies are more likely to lead unproductive lives and suffer from neglect and abuse. In many cases, they are just aborted before they are born.
Unwanted pregnancies and STDs ruin potential futures for teenagers, cause strife within the family and result in many other domestic problems.
Concerned organizations need to learn to get their priorities straight and deal with the right problems in the right way.
In addition, people need to learn to “do it” right, or not do it at all.