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A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control has found that one in four teenage girls has an STD. Over the last 8 years the abstinence only programs in the U.S. have been spreading like wildfire...or...like chlamydia. Clearly they are not working. These finding are disturbing, especially in the U.S. where STD's can be easily prevented.

Not only is telling a teenager not to have sex before marriage like telling an asthmatic patient to hold his breath for the next 5 years, it's also alarmingly self righteous. Concerned citizens who are pushing abstinence only education are fooling themselves, and I would place all my money in the bank on the fact that most of these abstinence pushers had sex before marriage themselves.

Living in north Louisiana, I live in what is considered to be the "buckle" of the Bible Belt. I see everyday the harm that childhood indoctrination is doing to our children and teenagers. They are taught daily to have so much guilt that their shame of being a sinner comes between them and their physical health. They would rather silently suffer the consequences of having a disease than to admit to their parents that they have had sex before marriage and failed in the eyes of God.

Teenagers have had sex since the beginning of time and there's no way that they are stopping now. Had these teenagers been taught the proper way to use a condom, these diseases would not be so widespread. Teens need to have a safe and confidential way to purchase birth control and be tested regularly for STD's, while not feeling ashamed for trying to protect their own health. Teaching them that the only safe way to avoid an STD is abstinence is akin to telling a person that the only cure for their disease is on the planet Mars. The cure exists, but the chances of reaching it are nearly hopeless.

There ARE ways to prevent STD's. But the emphasis is not on teaching how to prevent, but in teaching morality in the forms of guilt and shame. Parents who advocate abstinence only sex education are putting their own rights of childhood indoctrination over the physical and mental well being of their own children.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Brister.
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