Teenage pregnancies almost halved thanks to sex ed

PreachersWife2004 said:

Abstinence practiced faithfully and correctly will yield exactly ZERO pregnancies.

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yes and nobody ever bullies someone else or rips off another person or breaks the law! Yeah sorry we don't live in a fairy tale land but in reality. So while that statement may be true it is not realistic.

PreachersWife2004 said:

Jesus knew how to use them correctly.

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and there was nothing wrong with the one used. Using acorns and people in analogies was something Jesus did.

PreachersWife2004 said:

The issue comes where we get lazy and say "but, they're gonna do it anyway, so, let's give them the means." And then we tailor classes to tell these kids it's perfectly normal for them to be having sex at this age. We make them into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Nope it is not giving them the means. They already have the means.

Got an evidence that classes tell kids it is normal to be having sex at that age? Not in my experience but then I'm not in the US. As another person here has said they were taught abstinence as an option so that would seem to go against your claims.

TheDag said:

Yet your comments should be dismissed just as fast because guess what some will do it anyway. So to not talk about an option because it makes you uncomfortable is just as foolhardy as not mentioning an option. Some will abstain and some won't. Just accept it.

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Indeed. And to not talk about it and teach it is even more dangerous because kids will instead learn about things second, third, and fourth hand through their fellow students, and much of it will be inaccurate. I remember my days in high school, if my parents hadn't taught me comprehensively and accurately, I'd likely have been believing the rumors and myths going around amongst the kids there (like having sex in water means you can't get pregnant, or oral sex doesn't pass STDs, etc.).

zephyrWiccan said:

Not true, as women who are "faithful and correct" in their practice of abstinence can be raped and that can certainly yield a pregnancy, especially if they don't have access (or haven't been taught factually about such thing as is often the case in abstinence only programs) to birth control methods after said rape.

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Ah, the rape card yet again. Not relevant in this particular thread, because we're not talking about rape.

PreachersWife2004 said:

Ah, the rape card yet again. Not relevant in this particular thread, because we're not talking about rape.

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Abstinence. Absolutely positively 100% effective!*



* some conditions and exclusions may apply.

HannahT said:

We have sex education in schools now, and the pregnancy rate went UP since I was in school (they had it then too). I don't think this has anything to do with sex education, but has many factors involved.

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A number of factors.

When I was in high school, it was extremely difficult for a teen-aged boy to buy a condom. Extremely. In fact, in my town it was impossible. I could possibly have taken a bus to the state capital and use one of the condom machines in their bus terminal restroom. Birth control pills were out of the question for girls--no doctor would have prescribed one for a teen-aged girl--in fact, doctors wouldn't prescribe them for single adult women back then.

Mudinyeri said:

I wonder what happened in 2006.

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Social media is what happened. "My Space" was launched in 2003, and was a phenomenon by 2006.

We know that social media is intensely important to teenagers and has probably had the most significant social impact on them since slightly before and certainly by 2006. So it's worth considering the contribution of social media to any social trend among teens that began at the same time.

MissRowy said:

The finding you found is good. But you cannot base it on one study. Are there other studies that show that sex education has reduced the number of teenage pregnancies?? I am doing a research subject this year and I have learnt that you cannot base evidence on just one finding. I encourage you to research this further if you can.
Also find studies about abstinence because im sure that there is a lot of stuff out there by reputable sources that shows that abstinence can also be successful.

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It isn't about abstinence being successful, of course it is. But people aren't successful at being abstinent. Kids are going to have sex. They've been doing it for literally thousands of years across every culture ever. You can, and should preach abstinence, but you also need to educate kids and give them the means to protect themselves and others.

Belk said:

Abstinence. Absolutely positively 100% effective!*



* some conditions and exclusions may apply.

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Rape doesn't have any bearing on this discussion since we are only discussing teen pregnancies resulting from consensual sex. It's the only one we can effectively fight from a policy standpoint. In other words, comprehensive sex ed isn't going to stop a rapist from raping any more or less than abstinence only sex ed.

Vylo said:

It isn't about abstinence being successful, of course it is. But people aren't successful at being abstinent. Kids are going to have sex. They've been doing it for literally thousands of years across every culture ever. You can, and should preach abstinence, but you also need to educate kids and give them the means to protect themselves and others.

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I actually agree. Parents need to have these discussions with their children.

Funny story: when I was a teenager, my mom gave me a box of condoms. She said it was "just in case any of your friends need some". But the underlying message was clear as day.

Tallguy88 said:

Rape doesn't have any bearing on this discussion since we are only discussing teen pregnancies resulting from consensual sex. It's the only one we can effectively fight from a policy standpoint. In other words, comprehensive sex ed isn't going to stop a rapist from raping any more or less than abstinence only sex ed.

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Then don't claim abstinence as a panacea to the problem of teenage pregnancy.

Cearbhall said:

I've never heard someone say that a homo sapiens infant is not a homo sapiens.

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Then you should pay more attention to those who claim a human baby in the womb is not a human being. They're all over this site. In fact you ignored post #23 in this very thread that did say that very thing.

Though do realize the proclamation there means that which authored the words must be an acorn. Not a human being.

Belk said:

So are they plants or minerals?

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What were you in your mom's womb?

Belk said:

Then don't claim abstinence as a panacea to the problem of teenage pregnancy.

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I didn't.

Tiny Bible said:

What were you in your mom's womb?

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How is this related to teenage pregnancy btw??

And I value your response Vylo. Its a very valid point.

Tiny Bible said:

Then you should pay more attention to those who claim a human baby in the womb is not a human being. They're all over this site. In fact you ignored post #23 in this very thread that did say that very thing.

Though do realize the proclamation there means that which authored the words must be an acorn. Not a human being.

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I haven't read the whole thread.

Post #23?

Belk said:

just like I do not think a fetus is a person

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"Person" is a separate concept from a species designation. I see nothing inaccurate here.

Tiny Bible said:

What were you in your mom's womb?

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It is generally considered impolite to answer a question with a question. If you answer my question I shall be happy to answer yours.

Tiny Bible said:

Then you should pay more attention to those who claim a human baby in the womb is not a human being. They're all over this site. In fact you ignored post #23 in this very thread that did say that very thing.

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I said no such thing.

Tiny Bible said:

Though do realize the proclamation there means that which authored the words must be an acorn. Not a human being.

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Is English a second language for you?

Tallguy88 said:

I didn't.

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Oh? The post I was responding to did not claim that abstinence was 100% effective?

Belk said:

Oh? The post I was responding to did not claim that abstinence was 100% effective?

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No. It said rape cases are irrelevant to this discussion of sex ed. Neither form of sex ed will change people raping other people. So excluding rape cases, abstinence is 100% effective.

Is it really some kind of shocker that not having sex is the best way to prevent pregnancy? All forms of contraception have failure rates even if used properly.

Tallguy88 said:

No. It said rape cases are irrelevant to this discussion of sex ed. Neither form of sex ed will change people raping other people. So excluding rape cases, abstinence is 100% effective.

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I don't think anyone is arguing otherwise. The problem with abstinence is that people don't tend to stay abstinent. It really does run counter to an incredibly strong urge. There's no issue with teaching abstinence. It's teaching abstinence to the exclusion, and in some cases, misinformation, of other forms of contraception that is the problem.

Some may argue that even if we were really good at staying abstinent (we aren't), that girls should be aware of and be able to easily obtain different types of birth control such as IUDs to prevent against pregnancy in the case of rape.