Abstinence Education Works
As youth navigate through the difficult waters of adolescence, the choices they make regarding their sexual health can have long-term effects on their lives. Abstinence education offers the one message that eliminates all possible risks associated with sexual activity. Abstinence education, as currently funded by Congress, is favored by parents by a 2:1 margin. A Zogby poll, commissioned by the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), found the overwhelming majority of parents want their teens to be abstinent until they are married.
- Nationwide there has been a 13% decrease in the percentage of teens who have ever had sex between 1991 and 2005(1).
- Seven peer-reviewed, published studies show that abstinence education decreases sexual initiation, increases abstinent behavior among sexually experienced teens, and/or decreases the number of partners among sexually active teens(2).
- The majority of the nationwide decline in teen pregnancies is attributed to increased abstinence(3).