14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent research carried out by a team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, more than 80% of the Americans included in a national study stated that abstinence-only sex education is not the most appropriate way of teaching schoolers to stay away from STIs and unwanted pregnancy. Instead, subjects proposed as more comprehensive approach to sex education, which should also include other methods of preventing sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy besides abstinence-only programs.
Writing in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, University of Pennsylvania researchers led by Amy Bleakley, Ph.D., M.P.H., pointed out: "Abstinence-only programs, while a priority of the federal government, are supported by neither a majority of the public nor the scientific community." They also added: "Our results indicate that U.S. adults, regardless of political ideology, favor a more balanced approach to sex education compared with the abstinence only programs funded by the federal government."
Out of the 1,096 respondents to the survey run on abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sexual education, most said that abstinence-only programs are already old-fashioned and are not very successful in preventing early sexual debut, unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners or high-frequency sexual intercourse.
Instead, abstinence-plus programs constitute a more comprehensive an appropriate approach to sex education and will be more welcome by schoolers around the country and, why not, around the world. These not-so-restrictive programs include teaching children about birth control pills, condoms and many other contraceptive methods to prevent unwanted pregnancy and the transmission of STIs.
Professor Amy Bleakley and colleagues concluded in their report: "With such high support for comprehensive sex education among the public from liberals, conservatives, and moderates alike, political leaders could capitalize on this rare occasion to enact public policy that is supported by both sound scientific evidence as well as public opinion."