The Fear of Abstinence
By Kevin Roeten (06/17/07)
People fear the word "abstinence". It seems to raise more flags than giving pure sex to those newly married. The 'left' seems to be attacking abstinence programs at will. They seem to believe we are slaves to our sexual needs, and what is really needed is a 'band-aid' approach to an act that will happen no matter what.
It’s difficult to understand the mentality that would keep humans down to the subhuman level of animals, that says you need to act on basic instincts, that teens have to protect themselves because they are going to have sex anyway, and that humans might have a soul and think for themselves but are hopelessly powerless against their basic instincts.
Zogby found that 83% of parents think it is important for their child to wait until marriage for sex and 78% felt that sex education should place a greater emphasis on abstinence education rather than on contraception. 66% of parents think that the importance of the “wait to have sex” message is lost when programs encourage the use of contraception.
Per Michael Craven(LifeNews), the ‘claim’ that abstinence education has failed is totally false. It’s obvious, when the claim only cites four programs out of more than 900 currently in place. Even the authors of those 4 studies acknowledge that “Nationally, rates of teen sexual activity have declined over the past 15 years.” Abstinence education actually began in the early 1990’s. Studies through the CDC(Centers for Disease Control) show the rate of teen pregnancy has dropped ~35% from 1990-2002, and acceleration of the decline of teen pregnancy since 2002. The Journal of Adolescent and Family Heath has a study showing a 66% decrease in teen pregnancy due to teens choosing abstinence, and the CDC shows a 53% drop during the same time.
The Journal of Research on Adolescents from a recent survey on 1,052 inner-city adolescents, show abstinent students have a stronger academic profile, while those who engage in sexual experimentation are more likely to exhibit academic and behavioral pathologies, earn low grades, drop out of high school, and experiment with drug and alcohol use.
But finally, the largest study of teen sex education by Dr. Stan Weed(Institute for Research and Evaluation) followed the behavior of over 400,000 adolescents in 30 states for 15 years. Weed says, “Within the US, sexual activity rates have been going down among teenagers for about the last 12 or 13 years, and that coincides with when the abstinence education started…However, pregnancy, abortion, and out-of-wedlock births have been rising for the older age group, between 19-25, a group that has not been targeted by abstinence programs.” But researchers also found that it was crucial to re-educate adolescents about abstinence each successive year.
It’s interesting to see CDC reports that teen sexual activity has dropped, teen birth rates are down(National Vital Statistics Report/ 25% since 1994), and the National Center for Heath Statistics show 50% fewer teen abortions from 1988 to 2003.
But if we look at previous trends, during the 30-year reign of condom-based sex education, teen sexual activity increased, teen births dramatically increased and teen abortions were going up. Many teens seem to be abstaining from sex during the last 13 years, when abstinence education was taught. Along with decreased sexual activity, teens are having fewer abortions. The question is, “How many Einstein’s, or John Paul II’s are alive today because of those fewer abortions?” Amazingly, the Concerned Women of America, as well as several other watchdog groups, revealed that for every $12 spent on condom-based programs, only $1 is spent on abstinence programs.
In summation---parents overwhelmingly support abstinence, federal funding has overwhelmingly been in support of condom-based programs; teen sexual activity, teen births, and teen abortions increased during emphasis on condom-based programs, but later decreased with an emphasis on abstinence; numerous evaluations have verified abstinence results; differences in groups(younger) that get abstinence training, show increased pregnancy, abortion, and out of wedlock births for groups that don’t; and teen pregnancy, STD’s, and emotional trauma seem to occur more often with those who don’t get abstinence training.
It seems a clear picture has formed. The next step seems obvious. Do we want to be slaves to our sexual desires? Haven’t humans evolved beyond slavery? Why is one party pushing a miserably failing condom-based sex education and continues to feed the monster?
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us/
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