Responsible Sex Ed
Adolescent sexual health issues must be addressed with complex prevention efforts, including responsible sexuality education that is developmentally appropriate education for all ages throughout the educational experience.
Responsible sexuality education includes medically accurate and developmentally appropriate information on abstinence and contraception.
Responsible Sexuality Education Works
- Research shows that responsible sexuality education is effective in providing adolescents with the tools, the knowledge, the skills, the attitude and values to make responsible choices about their sexual health.1
- Responsible sexuality education programs that discuss both abstinence and contraception, including condoms, do not increase sexual activity among teens; rather, such programs often delay first intercourse, reduce the frequency of sex, and reduce the number of sexual partners.1
- Also in recent years, the decline of teen pregnancy rates has been attributed not only to an increase in abstinence among adolescents, but also to an increase in contraceptive use.2
Minnesotans Support Responsible Sex Ed
- 7 out of 10 Minnesota adults believe that sexuality education should include both abstinence and contraception.3
- 9 out of 10 Minnesotans support responsible sexuality in high schools; 8 out of 10 support responsible sexuality education in junior high schools.3
- 8 out of 10 Minnesota parents reject the ideas that teaching both abstinence and contraception encourages young people to have sex.3
Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education Does NOT Work
- Abstinence-only-until-marriage education offers abstinence as the only option, does not include any information on contraception or prevention of STIs, relies on scare tactics and overstates contraception failure rates, and does not provide young people with information they will need for healthy lives.
- The only research on abstinence-only-until-marriage education programs found an increased number of young people having sex and that fewer used contraception.4
- Abstinence-only-until-marriage education imposes only one set of values as morally correct regardless of family composition, cultural experience, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation.
- Abstinence-only-until-marriage education can shame and fail to address young people who have been sexually abused or sexually assaulted.
1Kirby D. Emerging answers: research findings on programs to reduce teen pregnancy. Washington, D.C.: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. 2001.
2Darroch JE and Singh S. Why is teenage pregnancy declining? The roles of abstinence, sexual activity and contraceptive use. Occasional Report, New York: The Alan Guttmacher Institute. 1999;1.
3Minnesota Sexuality Education Survey. MN Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention, and Parenting, 2000.
4Kirby D, Korpi M, Barth RP, Cagampang HH. Evaluation of Education Now and Babies Later (ENABL): Final Report. 1995.
Print Handout
Responsible sexuality education—PDF
SEFL Virginity Pledge Study - PDF
Sex Ed in America Survey - PDF
