Reed 1
Cameron Reed
EN 101 7
6 November 2017
Abstinence versus Safe Sex Education
Education about the risks that come with the act of sex should be a necessary
instruction for teens, ages thirteen through eighteen. While abstinence prevents disease and
pregnancy altogether, teens should be taught safe sex instead of strictly abstinence because
teaching abstinence does not prevent pregnancy and disease to those who have sex anyway,
teens are still having sex even though they are being taught not to, and just teaching about safe
sex does not encourage teens to have more sex. Sexual abstinence is defined as refraining from
any sexual activity. Safe sex, or sexual risk avoidance, is taking the right precautionary measures
to avoid the risks of sex. Safe sex can include abstinence, but it is not solely relied on and can
branch out to other methods of protection. The goal should be for teens to have a better
understanding of risks and how to avoid them if they choose not to use the traditional method
of abstinence.
The education programs started and funded by the united states government teach
abstinence from sexual activity is the only guaranteed way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy
and sexually transmitted diseases and that abstinence from sexual intercourse before marriage
is the single acceptable behavior. It also has exclusive purpose of showing the social,
psychological, and health gains to be realized by refraining from sexual activity and that
abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the expected standard for all school-age
children (Section 510 [b] of Title V of the Social Security Act, P.L. 104–193). This particular
Reed 2
teaching of abstinence education has a very specific agenda and approach on how to handle
this situation. Whereas safe-sex education not only harps on specifically abstinence, it explains
the benefits of abstinence as well as branching out to other methods of prevention of
pregnancy and disease. As defined by comprehensive sex education guidelines by Advocates for
Youth, it teaches that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective method of
preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, that proper use of latex
condoms can significantly reduce, with a “1.1% pregnancy rate,” the risk of unwanted
pregnancy and infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), accurate medical
information about STDs and that individuals can avoid them, that religious values can play an
essential role in an individual’s decisions about sexual expression and offers students the
opportunity to explore their own beliefs (Sex Education Programs).
First, the abstinence-only policy is ineffective because teaching abstinence does not
prevent pregnancy and disease to those who have sex anyway. Teens who are strictly taught
abstinence lack the knowledge of safety that needs to be known. What needs to be known are
alternative ways of disease and pregnancy prevention because teens who are having sexual
intercourse are obviously not abiding by abstinence and are subject to those risks. Prevention
of these risks can include using contraceptives. A contraceptive is any device or pill serving to
prevent pregnancy. Examples of these contraceptives are condoms, birth control pills,
injections, implants, and the morning-after pill. Condoms have a 98% pregnancy prevention
rate and can serve as a barrier between skin-to-skin contact as the most effective method other
than total abstinence for reducing the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Birth
control pills have above a 95% pregnancy prevention rate and work with your hormones as an
Reed 3
ovulation blocker and must be taken every day. Other injections or implants include an implant
that goes in your arm that has over a 99% pregnancy prevention rate, and the injections can be
shots that help prevent sexually transmitted disease and HIV (“How Can You Prevent a Future
Unwanted Pregnancy”). In a study by Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, the
pregnancy rates as of 2015 are that 24.2 out of every 1,000 females ages 15-19 are, or have
been, pregnant (“Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy”). Also, two in five young adults, ages
15-24, have had a sexually transmitted disease (“Adolescent Development and STDs”).
Although it seems low, abstinence education is required to be taught in 37 states, and it is still
an occurring problem (Contraceptive Use In the United States).
Additionally, teens are still having sex even though they are being taught not to. Teens
