USA And The Future Of The World

[acharya]

US teenagers need real sex education

Honest education and confidential services are the best way to undo the damage done by abstinence-only programmes
o guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 July 2009 15.30 BST

A high school in New York has come under fire for providing students with confidential STD and pregnancy testing – but after a decade of failed abstinence-only education programmes under the Bush administration, it's programmes such as these that are exactly what we need to promote healthy teen sexuality.

In the US teenagers are having sex as much as they ever did, but they're using contraception less and getting pregnant more. In fact, the teenage pregnancy rate has risen for the second year in a row.

It should come as no surprise that this is happening, really – after all, teenagers are just going by the book. A 2002 study found that one-third of US teenagers hadn't received any formal instruction about contraception. For those who did learn about it, false scare-tactics awaited. In Me, My World, My Future – a textbook used in public schools across the country – students are told that "relying on condoms is like playing Russian roulette." A Case Western Reserve University study found that Ohio students have been taught that the birth control pill increases young women's chances of infertility later in life. And in 2005, teens at Montana's Bozeman High School were even taught that condoms cause cancer. So why would teens want to depend on something that they're told is not only ineffective, but cancer-causing to boot?

There's no doubt that positive changes have been made under the new administration. President Obama has rightly slashed funding for most abstinence-only education programmes in the 2010 budget, and redirected that money to teen pregnancy prevention programmes that have been proven effective. But 25% of the $164m marked for teen pregnancy prevention would be open to abstinence-only programmes, leaving open the possibility that the reign of sexual misinformation continue in US schools.

Now, American parents would like their teenagers to be taught that the only surefire way to avoid pregnancy and STIs is abstaining from sex – because that's the truth. But the truth is also that the vast majority of parents want their children to learn about contraception in sex education classes. Ninety-five percent of Americans will have pre-marital sex; the best way to prepare young people for their sexual futures is to ensure they're able to make healthy, well-informed decisions.

Parents who care about the health of their children, and Americans who care about the health of the nation, need to do more than shake our heads at the statistics and hope our school programmes change. We have to reverse the damage that was done to a generation of young people, and proactively support healthy sexual choices for teenagers. Yes – this means condoms in schools, emergency contraception being available to teens over the counter and programmes such as the one in New York that ensure teenagers' privacy. Now isn't the time for moral and political debates about teen sex, it's time for action to make teens healthy again.