Study: Half of Young Americans to Get Sex Diseases; "Abstinence only" sex ed to blame

Study: Half of Young Americans to Get Sex Diseases
Wed Feb 25, 6:55 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all young Americans will get a sexually transmitted disease by the age of 25, perhaps because they are ignorant about protection or embarrassed to ask for it, according to several reports issued on Tuesday.


The reports, publicized by two nonprofit sexual and youth health groups, said there were 9 million new cases of STD among teens and young adults aged 15 to 24 in 2000.


They said the U.S. government's policy of preferring abstinence-only education would only increase those rates.


"For the 27 million young Americans under the age of 25 who have had sex, the stakes are simply too high to talk only about abstinence," James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, said in a statement.


"Given the prevalence of STDs, young people need all the facts -- including medically accurate information on condoms."


The reports, released jointly by Advocates for Youth -- a nonprofit group advocating for sex education, and the sexual health-oriented Alan Guttmacher Institute, pull together information from several different publications.


They include a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) report in the latest issue of the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, and a University of North Carolina report based on interviews with teens and young adults.


"Approximately 18.9 million new cases of STD occurred in 2000, of which 9.1 million (48 percent) were among persons aged 15 to 24," the CDC report reads.


It said three diseases -- human papillomavirus or genital wart virus, a parasitic infection called trichomoniasis and chlamydia -- accounted for 88 percent of all new cases of STDs in 15- to 24-year-olds. Wart virus is the major cause of cervical cancer while chlamydia can cause infertility.


POTENTIAL CAUSES


The CDC report did not comment on potential causes, but the Guttmacher Institute did.


"It is not surprising that teens and young adults contract a disproportionate number of infections," said Guttmacher's Sharon Camp. "Most young people are sexually active, and many are ill equipped to prevent STDs or seek testing and treatment."


She said sex education that includes information on condoms is vital to preventing STDs.


"Although abstaining from sexual activity is guaranteed to prevent STDs, some adolescents and virtually all young adults will eventually choose to have sex," Camp said.


"Before they do, they need realistic sex education that teaches them how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies. It is essential to have medically accurate information about condoms and other contraceptive methods, and guidance on how to access appropriate prevention, testing and treatment services."


Teens 15 and older who have had sex have the highest STD rates of any age group in the country, and the United States has the highest STD rate of any industrialized country, according to CDC and World Health Organization (news - web sites) figures.


The University of North Carolina report attacked federal policies that encourage abstinence-only education.


"Abstinence is, of course, the only 100 percent effective prevention strategy," Shawn Carney, a 17-year-old member of the UNC youth panel, said in a statement.

"But with 70 percent of young people having sex by the age of 18, we need to hear about more than abstinence. We need to know how to prevent STDs when we do have sex later in life."

Education is key. .

Looks like they've learned well. they've been educated into sexual promiscuity and now have to suffer the consequences. What they need is education in taking self discipline and taking responsibility for themselves.

The article stated that the cause could be abstinance-only programs. How can you compare those types of programs with promiscuity?

"the cause could be abstinance-only programs" I don't believe that is the cause. We've told our children they're going to have sex anyway, so here's how they should do it. If we teach them that, they're going to have sex, period. With the advent of sex education, we have seen greater and greater promiscuity amongst children. With promiscuity comes the consequences. Rather than teach them about the consequences, the sex promoters have tried to teach them how to avoid the consequences (a dismal failure) and how to make someone else pay for it when they do fail.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../health_sex_dc




This is why I'm such an outspoken critic of "abstinence only" sex ed, and I'm certainly not alone.

According to an NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll:

http://www.npr.org/display_pages/fe...re_1624281.html

Only ~15% of Americans agree with abstinence only sex ed.

Bush has proposed to double funding for these programs that often intentionally spread misinformation, and help contribute to our country's status as that of the nation with the highest STD rate in the industrialized world to pander to his most far-right supporters.

If we teach them that, they're going to have sex, period.

True expect for the "If we teach them" part of it. Kids are going to have sex regardless. If you don't believe this you have been out of high school too long (or even middle school these days).