Abstinence Only Education

[First Slide]

For my course project I decided to research teen pregnancy, and how sex education in different states affects the teen pregnancy and teen birth rates. With my research I came to believe that abstinence only education is ineffective at preventing pregnancy.

[Thesis]

Teen abstinence programs neglect to teach teens about their bodies and sexual reproduction, as they typically just focus on the religious ideology of saving sex for marriage. Refusing to teach about contraception and sexual health can lead to unwanted pregnancies and contraction of STDs that can be left untreated because of a fear of judgement. Shame and fear tactics are also commonly used in abstinence only education, and this leads to insecurity and oftentimes slut

States that are darker orange have higher pregnancy rates than lighter orange. As you can see, 4/6 of the states with the highest pregnancy rates stress abstinence and are not required to teach about contraception. In 2010 the highest state was New Mexico with 80 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, with Mississippi and Texas following close behind. As you can see on the map, 2 of those states stress abstinence and do not discuss any form of contraception with students. The correlation is obvious and shows that abstinence only education is ineffective

[Quote]

Now I know that some of you probably are thinking, “well if they didn’t want a child, then they shouldn’t of had sex.” And I agree with you, practicing abstinence is the only way to 100% prevent any chance of pregnancy and stds, and if you practice abstinence then great for you, do what you want with your body.

[Quote continued]

The thing is though, practicing abstinence is different than teaching it, though. These abstinence only education programs do not actually prevent teens from being sexually active, or even delay it. Teens still have sex, just they don’t have proper knowledge about how to be

This is not appropriate for a public school setting, as one of our biggest founding principles was to separate church and state. Shame is also used against students, especially girls. Have you ever heard of the “flower” metaphor? This is the idea that a girl’s virginity is like a delicate flower, and every time you have sex a petal falls off or is damaged, until the flower is ugly or unlovable. There are many similar metaphors, ranging from the flower to comparing sexual activity to a cup of backwashed water. This just teaches girls that they are worthless and dirty if they’ve had sex, and promotes guys to slut shame