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Facts about Abstinence Education
www.heritage.org/Research/Abstinence/wm461.cfm
Fact: Sexual activity at an early age has multiple harmful consequences.
The earlier a teenage girl begins sexual activity the more likely she is to suffer from increased rates of infection with sexually transmitted diseases, increased rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and birth, increased rates of single parenthood, decreased marital stability, increased maternal and child poverty, increased abortion, increased depression, and decreased adult happiness.[1]
Fact: Most sexually active teens say they wish they had waited until they were older before having sex.
Nearly two thirds of sexually active teens state that they regret their initial sexual activity and wish they had waited until they were older before becoming sexually active.[2]
Fact: Sexually active teens are more likely to be depressed and to attempt suicide.
Sexually active teens are less likely to be happy, more likely to be depressed, and more likely to attempt suicide. Teenage girls who are sexually active are three times more likely to be depressed and three times more likely to attempt suicide than girls who are not active. Teenage boys who are sexually active are more than twice as likely to be depressed and are almost ten times more likely to attempt suicide than boys who are not active.[3]
Fact: Abstinence education programs are effective in reducing teen sexual activity.
There are currently ten evaluations showing that abstinence education is effective in reducing teen sexual activity. Half of these evaluations have been published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, “Not Me, Not Now” is a community-wide abstinence program in Monroe County, New York. The program broadcasts pro-abstinence messages to teens through the mass media. The program has been successful in changing teen attitudes. The sexual activity rate of 15-year-olds across the county (as reported on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) dropped 46.6 percent to 31.6 percent. The pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 through 17 in the county fell by a statistically significant amount from 63.4 pregnancies per 1000 girls to 49.5 pregnancies per 1000.. The teen pregnancy rate fell more rapidly in Monroe County than in comparison counties and in upstate New York in general, and the difference in the rate of decrease was statistically significant. [4]
Fact: Abstinence programs dramatically reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing.
For more than a decade, abstinence organizations such as “True Love Waits” have encouraged young people to abstain from sexual activity. As part of these programs, young people are encouraged to make a verbal or written pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. Young women who take a virginity pledge are about 40 percent less likely to have a child out-of-wedlock when compared to similar young women who do not make pledges, according to recently released data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. These dramatic findings are valid even when background factors such as socio-economic status, race, religiosity, and other relevant variables are held constant.[5]
Fact: Government spends $12 to promote contraceptives for every $1 spent on abstinence. In 2002, the federal and state governments spent an estimated $1.73 billion on a wide variety of contraception-promotion and pregnancy-prevention programs. More than a third of that money ($653 million) was spent specifically to fund contraceptive programs for teens. In contrast, programs teaching teens to abstain from sexual activity received only an estimated $144.1 million in the same year. Overall, government spent $12.00 to promote contraception for every one dollar spent to encourage abstinence. If funding for teens alone is examined, government still spent $4.50 on promoting teen contraceptive use for every one dollar spent on teen abstinence.[6]
Fact: Government spending priorities do not match parental priorities.
Some 85 percent of parents believe that teaching about abstinence should be emphasized as much as, or more than, teaching about contraception. Only 8 percent believe that promoting contraception is more important than abstinence.[7]
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