A New Reason for Teens to Avoid Sex: It Could Be Harmful to Their Health

A new sex education curriculum offered in Texas is focusing on the health benefits of abstinence, ignoring the moral issues altogether. The program, dubbed "Worth the Wait," teaches kids from a medical standpoint that there is no such thing as safe sex for a teenager. It documents genuine health reasons why sex should be an adult activity -- regardless of a person's views on sex outside of marriage.

"Worth the Wait" is offered through Scott & White Hospital, the Temple, Texas, teaching hospital for Texas A&M College of Medicine. It is being taught to 6th, 7th and 8th graders in 31 Texas school districts and is being expanded into some high schools. Educational kits for health care workers have been sold in 44 states, and school districts outside Texas are also considering the program, which requires two days of teacher training by Scott & White physicians and nurses. Lessons do not talk about homosexuality, masturbation or abortion and do not teach kids about condoms or birth control. Teachers simply tell kids that once they do become sexually active, it is imperative they discuss it with a health care professional.

Among school districts that teach sex education, 51 percent discuss contraception but require abstinence be taught as the preferred option. About 35 percent require that abstinence be taught as the only option for unmarried people. The remaining 14 percent teach teens that both abstinence and contraception are part of a broad range of options for adolescents.

Which type of sex education really works is politically charged, and data on both sides are subject to interpretation. Janice M. Irvine, associate professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and coauthor of Talk about Sex: The Battles Over Sex Education in the United States, says that so far, the data show comprehensive sex education programs -- which most major medical associations endorse -- have been more effective than abstinence-only programs.

Fueling the debate is that, since abstinence-only education began making inroads in the 1990s, teenage pregnancy rates, birth rates and abortion rates have declined dramatically. Research showed increased abstinence among girls accounted for one-quarter of the drop in teen pregnancy between 1988 and 1995. The rest of the drop was due to sexually active teens doing a better job of preventing pregnancy.

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