What's Wrong With Abstinence Only Sex Education

A Colorado bill that would bar abstinence only sex education from public and charter schools recently passed the House and is now moving on to the Senate.  This bill would ban abstinence only curriculums from sexual health courses on both the private and charter level, instead replacing the way those courses had been taught with comprehensive information on adolescent sexuality.  If this bill becomes law, it would would make Colorado the 15th state to not require abstinence based sexual health education to be a part of sex ed curriculums.  So, what is the deal with abstinence only sex education? What is the issue with it, why do states continue to support it, and how does comprehensive sex education differ from it?

First of all, I think it's important to define what exactly abstinence only education is, as well as what comprehensive sex education is, even if it seems pretty self explanatory.  Abstinence only sex education is a type of sexual health education that teaches to withhold from sex until marriage.  Often, sex ed classes that teach abstinence fail to cover methods of safer sex, pregnancy, and STI prevention, under the guise that if you are not having sex until marriage, then none of that information should be necessary.  Abstinence based curriculums often shame students for having sexual desires, and teach adolescents that having more than one partner is dirty and unclean.  Often, abstinence based curriculums will withhold medically accurate information, and use analogies to demonstrate that having sex with multiple people ruins your ability to be with anyone else.  The most common of these analogies seems to be the tape analogy, where the teacher will pass around a piece of tape and each person will stick it to their body or desk.  As it is passed around the room, stuck down, and removed, it looses its stick.  This type of education is meant to scare youth out of having sex, for fear of what life threatening infections they will catch or how it will ruin their chances of being with anyone else.  Abstinence only sex education is synonymous with sex negative, medically inaccurate, and fear based education.

On the flip side, comprehensive sex education is meant to provide a full and complete understanding of human sexuality.  Comprehensive sex education will often include medically accurate information on STIs, pregnancy, puberty, and methods of contraception.  Comprehensive sex education is also meant to be unbiased and inclusive, and, in some cases, provide information on avoiding coercion, making healthy decisions regarding your sexuality, and even provide resources for communicating with your family about sexuality.  In many ways, comprehensive sex education is the exact opposite of abstinence based sex education.

Still, many states that offer more comprehensive curriculums are required to cover abstinence in some way.  For instance, as far as states go, Colorado actually has a fairly comprehensive sex education curriculum.  According to the Guttmacher Institute, the state of Colorado requires that sex ed be medically accurate, age appropriate, and unbiased.  Colorado is also required to include information on contraception and include a comprehensive review of sexual orientation.  Still, as of right now, Colorado is required to cover abstinence.  It does not have to be stressed, like some other states require, but it does still have to be covered.  That is what this bill would change.

So, what is the issue with abstinence based sex education?  Well, to sum it up, it really doesn't work.  Abstinence based sex education has been funded for so long in hopes of reducing the high rates of teen pregnancy that the US faces.  However, according to data collected by the NCBI, abstinence based sex education does not really do anything to decrease the rate of teen pregnancy in the United States.  Abstinence only education does not teach teens to not have sex; in fact, withholding information from teens who are beginning to experiment with their sexuality only insures that when they are ready to take that next step, that they won't have the tools or knowledge to do it safely.  Teenagers are going to have sex regardless of what they are told in school, but without proper education on contraception and methods of risk avoidance, they are at higher risk for contracting STIs, unwanted pregnancy, and psychological trauma. Furthermore, it reinforces that sex must be some dirty act for having to wait to partake in it until marriage.  It institutionalizes sex negativity, which in turn does not just prevent teens from accessing knowledge of safer sex practices in school, but it makes them feel like they can't access that information on their own.

To review, abstinence based sex education teaches to withhold from sexual activity until marriage.  Often times, this type of education leaves out information on safer sex practices.  On the other hand, comprehensive sex education does provide information on safer sex practices, contraception, and STIs in an inclusive light.  Often times, comprehensive sex education is taught hand in hand with abstinence based education, where education on abstinence takes more of a backseat, such as in Colorado.  If this new bill takes effect, it will disallow schools from teaching any form of abstinence in sexual health programs.  This would be a big step for sex ed in Colorado, as abstinence based education has only been found to bring more harm than good to the adolescents involved in such programs.

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