The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released a new report detailing the provision of sex education to teenagers. The CDC website highlighting the report emphasizes the finding that 97 percent of teen respondents to the survey indicate that they have received sex education from someplace, whether at school, church, community center or another setting. However, a more disturbing finding is that of all the things that are discussed in sex education classes, birth control seems to be discussed less than the others:
- Ninety-two percent of male and 93% of female teenagers reported being taught about STDs and 89% of male and 88% of female teenagers reported receiving instruction on how to prevent HIV/AIDS.
- A larger percentage of teenagers reported receiving formal sex education on “how to say no to sex” (81% of male and 87% female teenagers) than reported receiving formal sex education on methods of birth control.
- Male teenagers were less likely than female teenagers to have received instructions on methods of birth control (62% of male and 70% female teenagers).
Even though the teenage birth rate is now lower than it used to be, teens still account for about one in ten births in the United States. That percentage is especially problematic because nearly 90 percent of births to teenagers in the United States occur outside of marriage, meaning that the lives of the mother and the children are going to be negatively impacted in ways that neither may ever overcome. A little more birth control education among teens could go a long way.
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