hich throughout the whole of human experience, there is so much evidence against. The fact is, that most American young people have their first sexual intercourse during their teenage years (Haffner). Commonly, "40 percent of ninth-graders and 45 percent of tenth-graders have engaged in sexual intercourse" (Elia), an activity they are likely to repeat, regardless of abstinence training. These youth need education on contraception and STD prevention, to stop their sexual experiences from becoming negative ones. Abstinence is just not relevant to sexually active students' lives. Furthermore, says Charles Morrison, sexuality education specialist, "the message would alienate students already engaged in sex." (Ferriss). Stressing that abstinence is the only certain way to Trinchieri 16avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases may even cause greater harm by indirectly encouraging teens who are sexually active to dismiss condoms and other forms of protection as useless. As said by Dr. Jocelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the United States "Abstinence is a good thing, and it works for many of our youthHowever, I am not willing to just throw away those other youths for which it does not work for one reason or another." (Stryker) And for these same youths, for whom abstinence will not work, an abstinence until marriage policy means life long celibacy. As with many right wing, religiously inspired programs, abstinence only education completely ignores those who do not travel down the beaten path. Students often are taught with the assumption that they will eventually settle down into a heterosexually based, monogamous, nuclear family and produce children. Homosexuals, estimated to be somewhere between 3 to 10 percent of the population, will never be married. In an abstinence-only sexuality education class these persons aren't even recognized. Essentially, this approach conveys the message that bisexuals, gays, and lesb...
