Only Sex Education in SchoolsIs Abstinence-Only Sex Education Working?
Abstinence-only sex education has recently been the prevailing way schools have been approaching sex ed. People often have strong opinions about how we as a society should be discussing sex with our teens. One way to approach sex education is through these abstinence-only programs. Between 1998 and 2003, half a billion dollars in state and federal funds were spent on abstinence-only programs that were to be presented in schools and other community-based agencies. Still, according to the most current data, the teen pregnancy rate is on the rise. In 2006, for the first time since 1991, the teen pregnancy rate went up and not down — a very disturbing trend. The Unites States, compared to other industrialized countries, has a very high number of teen pregnancies and a high rate of STD infection in teens. What is Abstinence-Only Sex Education? Title V of the Social Security Act is a federal act that defined what abstinence-only programs were to be teaching. Here is the federal definition o
