Teaching Abstinence, Does It Really Work?

There appears to be evidence that says "No".

By JoAnne Allen Joanne Allen – 2 hrs 30 mins ago


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. teen pregnancy rate rose in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade, reversing a long slide, a U.S. think tank reported on Tuesday.


The overall teen pregnancy rate was up 3 percent in 2006, with a 4 percent rise in the rate of births and a 1 percent rise in the rate of abortions, according to the report by the Guttmacher Institute.


The United States has higher rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion than in other Western industrialized countries.


There were 71 pregnancies per 1,000 U.S. girls aged 15-19. In 2006, 7 percent of all teenage girls got pregnant, according to the report.


Fewer black teenage girls got pregnant, closing a gap with Hispanic teens. But rates among both groups were still significantly higher than for white teens, the report said, and rates went up for all ethnic groups.


"We're not quite sure yet whether this is just a blip or whether it's the beginning of a longer upward trend," Larry Finer, Guttmacher's director for domestic research, said in a telephone interview.


"It's interesting to note that this flattening out of the rate and the increase in the rate is happening at the same time that we've seen substantial increases in funding for abstinence-only programs," Finer said.


"We do know that when we saw the big decline in the '90s, that a lot of that decline was due to improved contraceptive use among teens."


The abstinence-only programs, backed by many social conservatives who oppose the teaching of contraception methods to teenagers in U.S.
schools, received about $1.3 billion in federal funds since the late 1990s.


The Obama administration's 2010 budget eliminated spending for abstinence-only, shifting funds to pregnancy prevention education that include abstinence along with "medically accurate and age-appropriate" information.


New Mexico led the states with the highest teenage pregnancy rate with nine percent, followed by Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi.


New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota had the lowest rates of teen pregnancies.


(Editing by Philip Barbara)


While it may just be a coincidence, the infamous "No Child Left Behind Act" states that schools will not receive federal funding unless the only method of sex education is abstinence.


We then see a sharp increase in teen pregnancy.



Teaching abstinence, does it work??

I was a crazy horny teen ready to lay pipe all the time, my golden rule was to always wear a condom.

Wear a love glove!

i dont think that teaching abstinence alone is going to solve anything. i dont think its all that effective at all. i think that teaching it as *one* method of safe sex is a good idea though. teach all the methods of safe sex, and teach that abstinence is the safest. kids will make their own decisions, so i think that the best way to help them is to make sure they have all the information they need to make a good choice for them.

I don't think we should teach abstinence, I think we should teach to ALWAYS ALWAYS wear a condom. Thats what I told my son and he hasn't had sex yet. (18 years old)

Abstinence only sex education clearly works....


















...if your goal is to encourage oral and anal sex.

It is fucking pathetic how we need our schools to teach kids about sex education, how to eat right, how to live a healthy life-style, so forth. None of this was required decades ago. This is just the result of shitty ass parenting. Parents expect the world of teachers, but there is only so much an individual can do with 25 students. I mean, why does this have to go into the class room where we spend our time and tax dollars for this? Parents aren't doing their job. They don't ask their children about their homework. They absolutely don't give a crap. School is just day-care for them.

The problem lies around class and wealth. Higher income individuals raise their children in a different manner than those of a lower class, hence the statistics above. Blacks and Hispanics are amongst the poorest in our society. Poorer individuals usually inhibit a circle of men with hyper-masculinity that don't give a shit about women, a stronger devotion towards religion (religion kills logic), and decreased intelligence. You add all of this up and it makes a recipe for disaster that is higher-drop out rates, rising pregnancy rates, etc.

When the state takes on the role of the parent, nothing good can come of it.

You can teach abstainance, but any of us that remember our hormone filled years knows that if a teen wants to go out and have sex, they will. Better they know how to protect themselves than to be exposed to diseases and pregnancy because of ignorance. Abstainance should always be encouraged, but it cannot prevent sexual activity altogether.
I also find it amusing that many who believe in abstainance as the only way to prevent pregnancy, also believe in the virgin Mary.

i had my 1st son when i was 14 the girl was 16 but fuck it i was young horny and didnt like condoms