Instead of receiving proper education, it has been replaced with religious based abstinence-only sex education programs. In many red states, particularly in the South, conservatives have completely replaced proper sex education with abstinence only programs that continuously fail to lower teen pregnancy rates. “Ninety-five percent of Americans have sex before marriage and, on average, adolescents in the United States have sex for the first time at about age 17 but do not marry or begin having children until their mid- to late 20s. During this long interim period, they may be at heightened risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs. Yet abstinence-only programs denigrate sexual activity before marriage as shameful and ignore the needs of sexually active adolescents.”
Instead of receiving proper education, it has been replaced with religious based abstinence-only sex education programs. In many red states, particularly in the South, conservatives have completely replaced proper sex education with abstinence only programs that continuously fail to lower teen pregnancy rates. “Ninety-five percent of Americans have sex before marriage and, on average, adolescents in the United States have sex for the first time at about age 17 but do not marry or begin having children until their mid- to late 20s. During this long interim period, they may be at heightened risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs. Yet abstinence-only programs denigrate sexual activity before marriage as shameful and ignore the needs of sexually active adolescents.”