D#10, HW#2, WP#3 Rough Draft

So it's 11:00pm where I am right now and I am going to go to sleep. I have to wake up at 6am to begin a 500 mile drive. I have gotten the majority of my rough draft done, but it is not complete. I will finish it asap tomorrow when my grandma is driving and not me. I'm sorry for the delay but I will try and get it done in the morning once i'm awake. Here's what I have so far...

Abstinence-Only Is Not Working!
“One million American teenagers become pregnant each year,” says Weiss (2006, p.1). One million! This is one of the highest rates in all of the developed countries of the world. The United States, which is the leading country in most everything, is also unfortunately the leading country of unexpected teenage pregnancy rates (Weiss, 2006). Why? What factors could lead to this? One main factor is undoubtedly what the United States has chosen to teach young teenagers…abstinence-only. In theory, abstinence-only sex education programs would be a good idea. Promoting abstinence for teenagers is generally seen as a good thing. However, the abstinence-only programs in the United States are defined by Wikipedia as, “a form of sex education that emphasizes abstinence from sex to the exclusion of all other types of sexual and reproductive health education, particularly regarding birth control and safe sex,” (2007). Seeing as one million American teenage girls are getting pregnant every year, abstinence is clearly not happening. So why not teach teenagers how to have “safe sex”, how to lower the risk of getting pregnant, or how to lower the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD)? Abstinence-only sex education programs do not delay sexual activity of teenagers, they do not lower the risk of STD spread (in fact in some cases they increase the risk), they do not lower the teen pregnancy rate, and they use scare tactic and false information to teach about sex (National Politics, 2005; Wiess, 2006; Willenz, 2005). In actuality, abstinence-only sex education programs are ultimately hurting the U.S.’s teens.
60.9 percent of teenagers have reported having sex by grade 12. More than half of the United States’ teenagers are NOT practicing abstinence. Abstinence-only programs which preach waiting to have sex until marriage are not effective at all in delaying teens from having sex (Wiess, 2006). Teenagers are having sex, but do not know some of the risks associated with the act, this is a major reason why there are one million teens getting pregnant every year. With abstinence-only programs teenage students are not taught about using condoms or other contraceptives that would significantly decrease chances of pregnancy. The bright side about teenage pregnancy rate is that research has proven that the teenage pregnancy has gone down in the United States in recent years, but contrary to what some people may want to believe it has nothing to do with abstinence only education programs. According to Weiss and the research he found by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the decline in teen pregnancy is due to the fact that sexually experienced teenagers have begun to use contraception regularly and more efficiently, not because teens are being taught about abstinence (2006).
Two aspects of teen sexuality that abstinence-only programs try to prevent have been proven to not be effective; those aspects being the delay of teen sexual intercourse and teen pregnancy. Abstinence-only programs also do not produce any lower rates of sexually transmitted disease spread. In fact in some cases risks are increased (Willenz, 2005). Research has shown that teenagers who have had abstinence-only sex education programs and taken pledges of abstinence are less likely to use condoms or other forms of contraception, which increases the likelihood of contracting and STD (Silverberg, 2007). It’s only logical to conclude that one reason teens do not use contraceptives is because teens are not being taught how to. They are not being taught what options are out there for them or how to use them properly. This is incredibly risky because in this case knowledge is not only power, but safety. HIV spread is extremely high because some abstinence-only sex education programs preach how ineffective condom use is, or don’t preach about condoms at all. As opposed to abstinence-only programs comprehensive sex education programs can lower STD spread rate among teenagers, specifically HIV transmission. According to Willenz over 15 years of research has proven that, “comprehensive sexuality education programs for youth that encourage abstinence, promote appropriate condom use, and teach sexual communication skills reduce HIV-risk behavior and also delay the onset of sexual intercourse,” (2005).