Persuasive Essay On Abstinence-Only Sex Education

“Am I going to die” are the words that whispered out this fragile seventeen-year-old boy while tears continuously poured down his face as he tried to find the words to tell us what was wrong. He had just found out that he was HIV positive and was terrified that he would never get to experience life in adulthood, yet alone the rest of adolescence. He, like most teens, heard about HIV, but did not believe that it would happen to him because he was not gay or a drug user. Just like many adolescents, he believed that he was invincible when it came to having unsafe sex. But sadly, he is just one out of the 12,000 teens that will contract HIV this year (CDC). Nobody wishes this kind of pain or suffering on our adolescents, yet in the United States we are failing our youth for many adolescents do not understand how they can get an STD or even how they can become pregnant by adulthood. Because STDs and unwanted pregnancy are still at astonishingly high numbers, the goal now needs to be finding programs that are effective at lowering both of these problems that plague adolescents. Therefore, a comprehensive program that teaches teens all of the necessary skills to have a
Abstinence-only sex education programs have been proven time and time again that they are not only failing at stopping teenagers in engaging in sexual activity, but are also not helping prevent adolescents from becoming pregnant or contracting an STD. Instead, comprehensive sex education programs show them the consequences of sex, along with the proper tools to protect themselves. These programs have been proven to improve the use of contraception, decrease the rate of risky behaviors, while still informing teenagers about the importance of abstaining from sex. Therefore, based on the evidence and facts, it would be more beneficial for schools to embrace comprehensive sex education over