The Guttmacher Institute Survey on Abortion

The Guttmacher Institute, which advances sexual and reproductive health through an interrelated program of social science research, has concluded that each year two out of every one hundred women aged fifteen to forty-four have an abortion. Forty-eight percent of those women have had at least one previous abortion. The Guttmacher Institute has also found that fifty-two percent of women in the United States who have abortions are younger than twenty-five years old; Women aged twenty to twenty-four obtain thirty-three percent of all abortions, and teenagers obtain nineteen percent (Jones RK, Darroch JE, and Henshaw SK.) Studies prove that the number of women having abortions is completely out of control, especially among young women.

A poll conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, concluded that ninety-four percent of adults in the United States believe teenagers should not engage in sexual activity until they are out of high school (“General Facts and Stats”). The Heritage Foundation also conducted a survey and found that forty-seven percent of parents want their teens to be taught that young people should not engage in sexual activity until they are married. Surprisingly, seventy-nine percent of parents want their teens to be taught that teen sexual activity will increase their chance of having psychological and physical problems. The survey also showed that forty-four percent of parents believe that teaching abstinence in school programs is more important than teaching about contraception (“What Do Parents Want Taught in Sex Education Programs”). Since there are such large

numbers of parents that want their children to be taught only about abstinence, most schools are currently teaching sex education based on abstinence curriculums.

Although many adults want to believe their teens will not have sex until they are married, the majority of teens will start to have sex when they are in middle school or high school. The Kaiser Family Foundation has researched that the median age of first time intercourse is age sixteen for boys and age seventeen for girls (“U.S. Teen Sexual Activity”). Since parents believe their children should not engage in sexual activity before they are married, they are most likely not talking with their children about dating, sex, or contraceptive methods.

Not only are parents not talking with their teens about sex, but most school curriculums are only teaching lessons of abstinence. If neither parents nor schools are willing to teach teenagers about safe sex, teens will grow up without the knowledge of how to perform safe sex. In order to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions, it is vital that schools and parents take a stand and teach children, at an early age about safe sex.

All schools must create comprehensive sex education curriculums. These curriculums must be taught no later than sixth grade. Since children are starting to engage in sexual activities at a younger age, it is vital for the schools to present sex education lessons before children begin to engage in sexual activities. The sex education lessons need to teach about the consequences of using drugs and alcohol while with a partner, because one quarter of sexually active teens from grades nine to twelve report using drugs and alcohol during their most recent sexual encounter

(“U.S. Teen Sexual Activity”). Also, teenagers aged fifteen to seventeen say that they might “do more” sexually than planned on because they were drinking or doing drugs (“U.S. Teen Sexual Activity”). It is essential that the comprehensive sex education curriculum focuses almost exclusively about contraception and encouraging teens to use it. Comprehensive sex education should not discourage nor criticize teen sexual activity as long as contraception is used. The curriculum should not focus only on the negatives of sex at an early age and sex with many different partners, but rather on the available contraceptives. Sex should be presented as a physical process. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, forty-eight percent of teens say they want more information about sexual health from their health care providers (“U.S. Teen Sexual Activity”). Since teens want information from health care providers, it must be a requirement in the curriculum to educate teens where they can seek more information about sexual health care services, including counseling on sexual risk behaviors, contraception, and sexually transmitted disease testing. Even though the comprehensive sex education curriculums will give teens a lot of information, the main message of the program must be to use contraception to prevent physical problems of sexually transmitted diseased and pregnancy.

Since the comprehensive sex education lessons will only teach teenagers about safe sex, parents need to give their own lessons to their