The human body is hardwired to begin reproducing in the teenage years, and for millennia it was common for marriages to take place as early as age 12 or 13 and for the first pregnancy to be shortly thereafter. As industrial society developed, it became increasingly necessary for these things to be delayed, but our urges, drives and desires have not changed. Teenagers still have sex, and in fact have higher sex drives due to pubescent hormones than the people society approves sexual behavior for. Contraception methods such as condoms, the birth control pill and IUDs can enable them to explore their sexuality while avoiding pregnancy, and condoms in particular can prevent the spread of STIs.
Sex comes naturally, and no one has to be taught to want it, but contraception does not come naturally, many methods are counter-intuitive and require education in their use. The vast majority of US teachers want to be able to teach about these topics—according to the nonpartisan Alan Guttmacher Institute—but increasing numbers are forbidden to teach their students any contraceptive or sexual health program beyond abstinence from sex until marriage. The Institute reports that in 1988 fewer than 1 in 50 sex ed teachers in the US had to teach abstinence-only programs, while in 1999 it was 1 in 4. The popularity of these programs has only increased since then as Bush-era federal programs have given financial incentives for schools which teach students not to have sex until marriage, defining sex outside of marriage as “wrong and harmful at all ages.”
This policy puts one particular group in a bind—gay and lesbian students. In most states gay and lesbian people cannot marry, and while there is obviously no risk of pregnancy, gay men in particular are at great risk for STIs. The vast majority of districts never address sexual orientation, a factor which may contribute to the isolation of gay and lesbian students and bullying against them. Also, curricula which denounce sex in general are never able to meaningfully address issues of consent in order to prevent sexual assault and “gray area” sex. Every day young women and some young men are pressured into sex that they do not want—their sexual freedom is undermined by abstinence-only sex ed programs.
The good news is that science and public opinion support a move towards more comprehensive sex education. While teen pregnancy has dropped dramatically in recent years, 86% of this reduction can be attributed to greater understanding of contraception by the students involved. The US still has much higher teen pregnancy rates than other countries where abstinence-only programs are unknown. And while about a third of the population support abstinence-only programs, more than half support comprehensive sex ed programs. Abstinence-only programs have shown no impact on whether students have sex or when, and as common sense gains ground in this debate, more students will have more resources to have safer and freer sex if they choose to. This is good for them, good for their families and good for us all.