One thing that the Bush era brought us was a big push for government-funded abstinence-only education. Ironically enough, what we also saw was a rise in teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases. You see, some kids, not wanting to be caught buying condoms (or just not knowing how to use them properly), still wanted to have sex, resulting in pregnancy. Even worse, some kids were left to believe that oral and anal sex were real sex so, they engaged in these activities and contracted venereal diseases.

Now that the numbers are more clear on this, a lot of states are waking up and either opting out of the funding or saying they’ll take the money but teach abstinence as a part a more comprehensive sex education program. They see the numbers and it’s clear — teaching abstinence only and kids abstaining do not appear to go hand-in-hand.

But, guess what — when kids are given more information, not less, they tend to delay engaging in sexual intercourse. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracked these statistics, helped kids under the age of 15 make much better decisions regarding sex:

Earlier last month, a study lead by Douglas Kirby of the ETR Associates revealed that two thirds of 48 comprehensive sex education programs have had a good impact on teenagers. They delayed the initiation of sex, reduced its frequency and the number of sexual partners.

“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.

On the other hand, other studies made in November as well, have said that these abstinence programs have little effect on the teenage sexual behavior, because, as the report discovered, 47 percent of high school students have engaged in sex at least once and 63 percent have said that they have sex during the spring semester of their senior year.

This time, researchers found that teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15 and girls who had formal sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before the age 15. The researchers also discovered that sex education reduced by 91 percent the risk that African-American females in school would have sex before age 15.

Like I tell people when asked about my opinions on sexual education — I plan on telling my son everything I can in an age-appropriate way. I plan on telling him what my mother told me –my preference is that he abstain but, if he gives in to temptation, I want him to make sure that he uses protection because pregnancy and disease are real possibilities. I plan on doing so because I love my son so much that I am willing to be real with him on the issue of sex.

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