D#10, HW#4, Revised Paragraphs

According to Weiss 60.9 percent of teenagers have reported having sex by grade 12; more than half of the United States’ teenagers are NOT practicing abstinence. This illustrates how abstinence-only programs which preach waiting to have sex until marriage are not effective at all in delaying teens from having sex (Weiss, 2006). [ This factual information will help my reasearch paper because it illustrates that abstinence-only programs are not stopping teens from going out and haivng sex.] The fact of the matter is that 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. According to Caplan, teenagers who have taken pledges of virginity are more likely than others to not use any contraception when they do start having sex (2005).

• Weiss, D. (2006). Reducing teen pregnancy. Planned Parenthood. Retrieved July 21, 2007, fromhttp://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/teen-pregnancy-sex-education/teenage-pregnancy-6240.htm.
• I only modified a couple of things in this paragraph becuase I had already done the sentence revisements that were listed for the assignment. The introduction with the author or the source makes the paragraph stronger.

Silverberg discuesses research that 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.

• Silverberg, C. (2007). Abstinence-only sex education: Defining and assessing abstinence-only sexual health education. Retrieved July 11, 2007, from http://sexuality.about.com/od/saferse1/a/abstinenceonly.htm.
• Once again I had already had introducations and citations in my paragraph.