Abstinence-Based Sex Ed Is Failing, Teens Say

Some Santa Ana, California teenagers who say they are tired of seeing friends get pregnant and drop out of school are asking the school board to change the way it teaches about sex. The youths say the city's rate of teenage motherhood -- one of the highest in California -- shows that the school district's abstinence-based sex education curriculum is not working.

"We feel the school board should be concerned," said Century High School senior Maricela Sandoval. "We want them to teach contraception, and how to deal with relationships." Sandoval is one of 15 young Santa Ana women and men recruited by the Campfire USA Orange County Council Speak Out program to research teenage pregnancy in the city. The group, funded by a grant from the California Wellness Foundation (CWF), paid for the volunteer teens' transportation and snacks during the 18 months they spent surveying fellow students about their sex habits and polling parents about what should be taught in schools. Twelve groups around the state have received the CWF grants.

The youths have already begun speaking individually with school board members. They plan to go before the board this month to demand that health teachers give students more information about the prevention of STDs and how to get birth control pills and condoms in addition to abstinence counseling. Currently, Santa Ana schools give students basic biological information but emphasize abstinence. Teachers tell students where to look in the phone book to find numbers of family planning clinics.

A 1996 University of California-Berkeley study identified Santa Ana as one of seven "trouble spots" in Southern California for teenage births, with more than 8 percent of girls ages 15 to 17 having babies each year. The students' survey found that three out of five area teenagers said they were sexually active, and the majority of teenagers, parents and health teachers surveyed all supported improving the sex education curriculum.

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