PARSE

Read a wonderful op-ed that appeared in today’s edition of the Daily News in response to the Guttmacher Report and in support of comprehensive sex education and the Notice Home and Healthy youth Acts…

“…Preventing teen pregnancy is a complicated business. American teenagers grow up in a sex-saturated popular culture that at the same time discourages open discussion of sexuality. In other parts of the developed world, teenagers are no less likely to be sexually active, but are much less likely to get pregnant or contract sexually transmitted diseases. The difference: information.”

A report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that the  increase in teen pregnancy rates are “based on trends in teens’ contraceptive use.”

“The significant drop in teen pregnancy rates in the 1990s was overwhelmingly the result of more and better use of contraceptives among sexually active teens. However, this decline started to stall out in the early 2000s, at the same time that sex education programs aimed exclusively at promoting abstinence—and prohibited by law from discussing the benefits of contraception—became increasingly widespread and teens’ use of contraceptives declined.” continue reading

Sex-education programs that encourage teens to delay sexual activity and teach them about contraception cut risky sexual behavior, increase condom use and lower the chances of getting the AIDS virus and other infections, a panel of independent experts concluded in a report released Friday.

A CDC panel of experts also found there is “insufficient evidence to know whether programs that focus on encouraging teens to remain sexually abstinent until marriage are effective…”  Continue reading this article.

The Future of Abstinence
It’s been a mainstay of sex ed for more than a decade. Now, as the Obama administration cuts off federal funding, the movement scrambles for money, determined to continue its mission. 

Read the entire Newsweek article.