For the last few months I’ve been doing an outrageous amount of research for my bill for Youth in Government. I had to figure out what I wanted to change about the State of Delaware and try to create a law about it. While I was thinking about a topic I kept coming back to one issue, teen pregnancy. Delaware is 6th in the country with the highest teen pregnancy rates. After doing some more digging I found that states with Comprehensive Sexual Education have lower teen pregnancy and teen STD rates than those with other forms of Sex Education.
Comprehensive Sex Ed is taught throughout a student’s entire school career. It starts with lessons about bullying and inappropriate touching in kindergarten through second grade. Third through fifth graders will learn about the human body, body image, healthy relationships with adults and other children and identifying adults who they can talk to when they have questions about their bodies. In middle school they learn the standard Sex Ed lessons that most children are taught, with lessons about puberty, the reproductive system and different types of contraception while stressing that abstinence is the best option. During high school, teenagers learn about the importance of protecting themselves if they chose to have sex, healthy sexual and emotional relationships, pregnancy options, and symptoms and treatments for STDs.
What makes Comprehensive Sex Ed different from abstinence-only-until-marriage Sexual Education is the idea that we have accepted that some teenagers are going to have sex and that it is our job to make sure they understand how to protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs. By teaching kids that abstinence is the only option, schools are leaving them open to STDs and pregnancies because they don’t know how to use or even obtain any kind of contraceptive. It’s better to be educated about the dangers of sex than to be kept in the dark and open yourself up to them. I wanted to make Comprehensive Sex Ed required in Delaware so that one day we could be like New Hampshire, with only 3% of all teenagers getting pregnant instead of our current 9%.
This is not a sponsored post. The information and statistics were gathered independently from professionals in the health and sexual education field by Sabreena to be used in her bill presented to “Legislation”.
I agree with you totally about the importance of this. Also, I think it’s a great project that you’re working on, doing research and deciding for yourself what the big issues are and how to address them. Kudos on your hard work and research.
Thank you very much:) I was very proud of my Bill
I agree with this with my whole heart and soul! I don’t want to think about my kids having sex before they are adults or married, but honestly look at the world we live in. We need to educate our children about everything in this world, that includes things we may not agree with them doing. The reason being? We don’t want our children learning from their peers because that can be a not so good situation. I sadly had to learn from my peers and although I didn’t get STD’s nor get pregnant as a teen, it was a hard road I traveled not having the proper education about both sex and drugs/alcohol. I really think education about all situations kids may find themselves in is important and it also needs to be an open topic at the home front. Sadly, not all parents are “easy” to talk to so having education in the school systems may not replace “parenting” but will assist everyone in making sure our teens are protected with knowledge!
This is exactly what I wanted everyone to understand. Thank you so much for commenting:)
Thank you for doing this! Fantastic idea and very very important!
This is such an important subject and I agree with you that it could really make a difference if the bill can get attention. One movie in 5th grade is not enough sex education — Good for you for trying to do something about it!
Thank you:) I’m glad you agree
Very impressive of you to do this kind of research and try to make positive changes!
All I wanted was to make people aware. I’m glad I brought more people’s attention to this issue. Thank you for reading:)
You picked a topic that def. needs support and the research you did was impressive. Great job Sabreena!
Thank you. I really appreciate it:)
yeah thats a tough one. youre right, we (as a society) need to stop teaching abstinence and start teaching common sense. We don’t condone premarital sex but if you’re gonna “disobey” us; be smart and wrap it up.
Abstinence doesn’t necessarily need to be outed but it needs to be taught along with the common sense health lessons. Thanks for reading:)
I totally agree that a comprehensive approach is the realistic way to go. Regardless of what’s ideal, we have to act based on realities. What a well thought out and written blog post.
I’m glad you agree about the realistic lessons. Even if it makes us uncomfortable, it’s more important for kids to be protected. Thank you so much:)
I think Sex Education should be implemented in primary schools rather in high school. Not only in Delaware, this problem of early age pregnancy occurred. Even in other countries most teenagers ranging from 13 to 16 years old got pregnant. It’s better for the government to take charge of this problems.
I agree. Thanks so much for reading:)
I definitely think that education is the key and the enforcement. Once we educate them, we need to keep talking about it. I remember getting the education in school and then topic was never discussed again.
Thank you I’m glad you agree:)
I completely agree!! I know quite a few teens who are facing alot of problems today simply because they are not being taught! Kudos to you Sabreena!!
It’s all about education when it comes to stuff like this. Kids aren’t learning the most important lessons and it’s become a huge issue. Thanks so much:)
I couldn’t agree more with the need to have a comprehensive sex education in our schools. Teaching abstinence only leaves out a large group of kids…who then are exposed to STDs, end up pregnant, or end up having an abortion or are teen parents, neither an easy option. Kudos for this post!
That was exactly how I felt while I was researching. I’m glad you liked my post:)
Hi Sabreena! I’m very impressed with you because you do research on sensitive issues. And i agree that Sex Education should be implemented. Keep up the good work and job well done.
I was a pregnant teen, infact pregnant at the age of 15. I was never taught much more than abstinence. While this is good in theory, it’s not good when you are just hiding the fact that you are having sex from all adults. If I had known where to get condoms, or how to use other forms of birth control I wouldn’t have been in the situation. Mind you, looking back, almost 11 years ago, I wouldn’t change one minute of it!
Wonderful post, and so informative! Well done!