Abstinence, the act of restraining sexual initiation till marriage or a certain age, offers many benefits to the person practicing. As the only form of birth control that is a one-hundred percent effective at pregnancy and STI prevention – for obvious reasons. Studies have also shown that relationships practicing abstinence are less psychologically damaging.² Some parents in today’s world feel that the conventional sex-education classes encourage sexual intercourse. Their rational comes from the programs specific emphasis on safe sex practices such as condoms and birth control.³ Abstinence can enhance a relationship. It can afford a person the ability to work harder in other aspects of their lives without the added weight of sexual pressure. And it can strengthen a person’s self-reliance.⁴ But, in today’s technological world where numbers mean everything, the statistics just do not jive with these sentiments.

Abstinence programs like to take claim over the decrease in teenage pregnancy and sexual initiation, and, also, to tort off misinformation about the failure rate of contraceptives involving pregnancy and STI prevention. Each of these instances classify as false information. In April 2007, Mathematica Research Inc. did a comprehensive study on Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs where they found no correlation between abstinence programs and sexual initiation. The numbers between Abstinence programs and Safe Sex education were relatively the same.⁵ To quote further:

To go further: the claim that condoms and other contraceptives have high failures rates at protecting against STI’s and pregnancy has been refuted with large amounts of statistical data. A woman who engages in unprotected sexual intercourse for a year has an 85% chance of getting pregnant; however, for a woman who uses contraceptives, that % drops between 3 to 15% – sometimes lower.⁸ Also, to state that contraceptives fail at protecting against STI’s is illogical. The National Institute of Health proclaims condoms as an essential utility in the fight for STI prevention, and, in a study conducted in Europe, condoms were found to reduce HIV infection within serodiscordant couples (one person infected with HIV and one person not). Out of 124 couples who use condoms consistently, no HIV transmission was found.⁹

Teen Pregnancy Rates, 2010

States with stricter abstinence programs show a higher % of teenage pregnancies. This involves most of the south/southwest. Texas has been in the news for their oncoming sex education reform.

Now let’s talk psychology. Abstinence program advocates love to talk about the psychological benefits and there might be some strength to that argument. Without the stress and pressure sex can impose on a teenager, it is easy to say that they will have better success in other aspects of their lives. That conclusion can be sound. But is it? Abstinence can also lead to a sheltered life where one is afraid to branch out and create new social relationships. Anna Broadway, writer for the Atlantic, expressed a story in defense of abstinence programs:

 TEEN PREGNANCY FUN FACTS ¹³

•  615,000 women between 15 and 19 will become pregnant in the U.S. That is 6% of women each year.
• Teen pregnancy is in decline in the U.S. This is attributed to better contraceptive practices.
• U.S teen pregnancies remain the highest out of all first world countries.
• New Mexico had the highest teen pregnancy rate in 2010. (80 in 1,000 teens)