birth control vs. abstinence

“Should Sex Education Teach on Birth Control vs. Abstinence”

When I was around the age to start talking about sexual activities, it was a funny and weird subject to speak on. In reality, it is a touchy topic to talk about with teens. You feel that you already know or you don’t need to know because you are not having sex. Oh! How we were wrong. My mom told me about birth control, condoms, and abstinence. At first I didn’t know exactly what abstinence was but I figured out that it meant wait to have sex when you’re ready. My mom told me to wait until I get married, never get pressured to do anything. I never learned a lot of facts at school because we didn’t have sex education. Sex education should be in all middle and high schools. So many kids like I did didn’t know about safe sex and the cause and effects on what will happen. Not only females but more males have no idea on what to expect as well. Recent discussions has showed that if you tell kids to stay abstinent not only will they go out and have sex anyway but cause a lot of problems such as, teen pregnancy, more infections spreading, and emotional distress. Why was sex education banned from many schools? The National Conference of State Legislatures states that, “22 states and the District of Columbia require public schools to teach about sex education, including HIV education”. Why only 22 states allow teaching students on sex education. When 15 to 24 represent 25 percent of the sexually active population, but acquire half of all new STIs, which amount to 9.5 million new cases a year. About 3.2 million adolescent females are infected with at least one of the most common STIs. Girls aged between 15 and 19 have the highest rate of Gonorrhea and the second highest rate of Chlamydia of any age group. In 2009, approximately 20 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses were young people age 13 to 24 (The National Conference of State Legislatures). Most parents didn’t allow sex education to be taught in school because they felt as if they should teach their own children or they believe that they should be taught about sex this young anyway. Seems to me that they should want the teachers to teach on sexual education, look at those numbers. I don’t understand why parents refuse to want their teenagers to learn about sexual activity when they are doing so without considering that they are not ready for sex. The most important question that everyone wants to know is; should sex education be taught in school? My answer will always be yes. Teens are having sex as young as middle school. What good is it to tell a teenager that he or she have to wait until they are married when they are going to do it behind their parents back anyway. So many parents are in denial about their children having sex. I could understand if the parent prefers to teach their child about sex than the school, but most teenagers are not going to listen to their parents. It is best to teach a child about safe sex or even because pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are higher in teenagers than adults. Statics show that in the United States nearly half of all teenagers’ girls and boys aged “between” 15-19 have had sexual intercourse including oral sex least once (Mibba Creative Writing). Even though teenagers only have one sexual partner any time, their percent of sexual partners increase over time, 25 percent of teenagers report of having 4 or more sexual partners by 12th grade. Only about 35 percent of males and females around the ages of 15 and 17 use a condom during sexually intercourse. That means not even half of teenagers is being safe while being in the act. That is more pregnancies and more sexual transmitted diseases. 1 out of 50 high school students report having illegal drugs when they have had sex. Parents know about most of these facts, yet they chose to hide these facts from their children and act like sex isn’t a reality. Sex is most definitely a reality among most teenagers. 40,000 to 80,000 new cases of HIV are reported each year in the U.S. It is guessed that half of all new infections are among people younger than 25. Averages of 2 young teenagers are infected with HIV every hour of every day. In a sense that is bad to know that all of these teenagers don’t understand the importance of having safe sex. All of these statics show how many teenagers have HIV STDS, but how many of these teenagers are different races? Adolescents among the age of 13 and 19 that have AIDS occur to be 50 percent African Americans, 28 percent in Caucasians and 20 percent in Hispanics. (Adolescents at Risk). That’s a huge amount of Africans American teenagers that has AIDS. I believe it could have been prevented if someone would have informed them on the cause and effect of unprotected sex. CDC state that, in 2009 65 percent of young African American teenagers are infected with HIV aged between 13 and 24 years old. The public never address the Caucasian youth on HIV rates. They are no different than the African Americans. Even though Caucasian had the lowest rate of sexual activity than African American and Hispanic according to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Search term Search database, doesn’t mean that they are doing just as much other things than the rest. Not all of these young adults were infected with sexual activity. Some has been infected by hemophilia, blood transfusion, birth, or unknown transmission mode, with the majority being infected prenatally. HIV among our youth is a continuous cycle, but why only does it seem that they only announce the African American Youth? There are other races with infections at a young age and pregnancies. Not all African American teenagers are doing what the rest are doing. What about the few teenagers who are actually being abstinent? We as a society shouldn’t shut out the ones who chose to do the right thing. If anything we should encourage them. Some of the teens in this day in time chose to be abstinent because they feel that it right and they parents have told them that it is the best thing to do. Males and females should stay abstinent. Most parents tell teenagers abstinence prevents pregnancy, emotional stress, sexually transmitted diseases, and other social prevenient. Over 50 percent of teenagers are choosing to be abstinent; it is becoming more and more popular each day. 73 percent of adolescents say that they don’t think being a virgin is bad. In fact, 58 percent say that all teenagers shouldn’t have sex regardless of how you’re feeling at the time (Teen Help). It isn’t worth it in the end. I know from experience. Just like me, 67 percent of teenagers that have lost their virginity say that they wish they could have been abstinent until they were older. It is the best way to be, because as we are growing up we are not ready for a grown up decision. We think we are but in reality we are nowhere near ready for that type of commitment.
Teen Help stated in their article different facts on why some teenagers chose not to have sex early than others. Most teenagers are not ready for the emotional and physical concerns of sexual intercourse. That takes a lot of strain on a teenager in terms of emotional stress, when having sexually intercourse a teenager doesn’t know how to distinguish between sex and love. That’s how most young girls get caught up in different sexual partners. Others said that they will like to find the right person at the right time. That is completely understandable, because if you are having sex with a lot of different males then that shows that you are not ready for sex at all. You have to only choose that one individual. Avoiding sexually transmitted diseases also was a cause to be abstinent. Everyone doesn’t want to know that they have caught something deadly because of foolish acts. Also many said they do not want to be a parent to soon. It is possible even if you are using protection; anything can happen and something can pop. If you are too young that can have you distraught at the fact that you are simple not ready to be a parent. You’re not even finished growing up, let alone take care of a whole life. Most parents wouldn’t agree with the fact that it can happen. It’s happening every day.
What do I think in my perspective? Sex education should teach children about both birth control and abstinence. Teenagers at the end of the day will do what they want to do and that is they are gone have sex at they own terms. As a society we should teach them to be safe and cautious at the same time. As well as the select few of teenagers that chose to be abstinent. Let’s not just shut them out; they should be praised for their choice of the right thing. If more people stop battling with should teenagers should just be abstinent or educate them on being safe, these statics will not be in affect at this very moment.

Works Cited
"Benefits of Teen Abstinence - Teen Sexuality." Benefits of Teen Abstinence - Teen Sexuality. Teen Help, 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. .
"Birth Control vs. Abstinence - Only in Sex Education." - Mibba. Mibba Creative Writing, 2006-2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. .
Fentahun, Netsanet. "PARENTS ' PERCEPTION, STUDENTS ' AND TEACHERS ' ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION." PARENTS ' PERCEPTION, STUDENTS ' AND TEACHERS ' ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION. 22.2 (2012): 99-106. Http://ehis.ebscohost.com. July 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Martin, Roland, and The Opinions Expressed in This Commentary Are Solely Those of Roland Martin. "Sex Education Should Be Mandatory in All Schools." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. .
Rector, Robert. "Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide." Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide. The Heritage Foundation, 3 June 2003. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. .
"State Policies on Sex Education in Schools." State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. NCSL, 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
"Statistics on HIV/AIDS, STDs and Unintended Pregnancy." Statistics on HIV/AIDS, STDs and Unintended Pregnancy. Adolescents At Risk, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. .
Waddell, Elizabeth. "Pregnancy Risk among Black, White, and Hispanic Teen Girls in New York City Public Schools." Pregnancy Risk among Black, White, and Hispanic Teen Girls in New York City Public Schools. US National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. .

Cited: "Benefits of Teen Abstinence - Teen Sexuality." Benefits of Teen Abstinence - Teen Sexuality. Teen Help, 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. . "Birth Control vs. Abstinence - Only in Sex Education." - Mibba. Mibba Creative Writing, 2006-2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. . Fentahun, Netsanet. "PARENTS ' PERCEPTION, STUDENTS ' AND TEACHERS ' ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION." PARENTS ' PERCEPTION, STUDENTS ' AND TEACHERS ' ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCHOOL SEX EDUCATION. 22.2 (2012): 99-106. Http://ehis.ebscohost.com. July 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Martin, Roland, and The Opinions Expressed in This Commentary Are Solely Those of Roland Martin. "Sex Education Should Be Mandatory in All Schools." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. . Rector, Robert. "Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide." Sexually Active Teenagers Are More Likely to Be Depressed and to Attempt Suicide. The Heritage Foundation, 3 June 2003. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. . "State Policies on Sex Education in Schools." State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. NCSL, 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. "Statistics on HIV/AIDS, STDs and Unintended Pregnancy." Statistics on HIV/AIDS, STDs and Unintended Pregnancy. Adolescents At Risk, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. . Waddell, Elizabeth. "Pregnancy Risk among Black, White, and Hispanic Teen Girls in New York City Public Schools." Pregnancy Risk among Black, White, and Hispanic Teen Girls in New York City Public Schools. US National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. .