Two students, that attend different schools, walk into their health classes. At the beginning of the year, both students will learn all the normal types of ways to keep their body safe. However, by the end of the year, one student will have learned how to properly use contraceptives and the other will have learned ways to stay abstinent until marriage. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has found that sex education programs spend less than ten percent of class time encouraging abstinence (Huber). However, many abstinence-only programs teach students that personal and mental health problems are the cause of sexual activity, and these problems could be avoided by being abstinent until marriage (U.S. House Committee On Government
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Many federally funded abstinence programs promote religion by using religious teachings to inform students about ‘proper sexual behavior and values’ because it is using taxpayer money to promote religion in schools (American Civil Liberties Union). All students have the right to learn how to protect themselves from STIs and other harmful things. When abstinence-only programs do not teach information about contraceptives, they are taking away the ability for students to protect themselves from STIs. Federally funded abstinence-only programs have certain guidelines that have to operate by, and many times these guidelines lead the programs to only teach what they have to and censor the vital information the teens need (American Civil Liberties Union). Students also have the right to feel safe in their school environment. Abstinence-only education can make the LGBT students feel left out or uncomfortable; however, sex education that involves LGBT intercourse can make the heterosexual students feel …show more content…
Abstinence-only programs go against the first amendment because they tend to support the idea of religion as being a guideline to being abstinent, and sex education completely discludes the LGBT community by not giving those teens information about the way they can use contraceptives to have safe sexual intercourse. Sex education makes teens believe that as long as they use contraceptives, they cannot acquire any STDs. Abstinence-only education does not provide enough information for teens to protect themselves from STDs. Again, two students from two different schools attend a health class. One will end the year by learning how to obtain or keep being abstinent, and the other will know to properly use contraceptives. Now, which teen is getting the most out of their class? Questions that you should ask yourself when determining which class is more helpful are: Is the LGBT community being treated fairly, which class will not disrupt the rights of the students, and is the class actually decreasing sexual activity and teen pregnancy. So, the bigger question is: Chastity or Safe
Many federally funded abstinence programs promote religion by using religious teachings to inform students about ‘proper sexual behavior and values’ because it is using taxpayer money to promote religion in schools (American Civil Liberties Union). All students have the right to learn how to protect themselves from STIs and other harmful things. When abstinence-only programs do not teach information about contraceptives, they are taking away the ability for students to protect themselves from STIs. Federally funded abstinence-only programs have certain guidelines that have to operate by, and many times these guidelines lead the programs to only teach what they have to and censor the vital information the teens need (American Civil Liberties Union). Students also have the right to feel safe in their school environment. Abstinence-only education can make the LGBT students feel left out or uncomfortable; however, sex education that involves LGBT intercourse can make the heterosexual students feel …show more content…
Abstinence-only programs go against the first amendment because they tend to support the idea of religion as being a guideline to being abstinent, and sex education completely discludes the LGBT community by not giving those teens information about the way they can use contraceptives to have safe sexual intercourse. Sex education makes teens believe that as long as they use contraceptives, they cannot acquire any STDs. Abstinence-only education does not provide enough information for teens to protect themselves from STDs. Again, two students from two different schools attend a health class. One will end the year by learning how to obtain or keep being abstinent, and the other will know to properly use contraceptives. Now, which teen is getting the most out of their class? Questions that you should ask yourself when determining which class is more helpful are: Is the LGBT community being treated fairly, which class will not disrupt the rights of the students, and is the class actually decreasing sexual activity and teen pregnancy. So, the bigger question is: Chastity or Safe