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Essay / The importance of educating adolescents about the benefits of safe sex
Unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections affect adolescents and their families. In the United States, during 2010, “the teen pregnancy rate was 57.4 pregnancies per 1,000 women; this means that about 6% of teens became pregnant in 2010” (US Teen Pregnancy). Most school systems in the United States teach the abstinence-only approach during sex education classes for adolescents. This approach tells students that the only way to have safe sex is to not have sex at all, which is misleading information. There is no way for adolescents to easily obtain free condoms without their parents' involvement. So when teens have sex, it's probably not protected. Unprotected sex puts adolescent girls at higher risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Parents should educate their children about safe sex practices, whether or not their schools have an abstinence-only sex education policy. American schools should teach comprehensive sex education to adolescents and provide condoms to their students to encourage them to practice safer sex. Preventing unwanted teenage pregnancies will lead to a reduction in abortions, which are emotionally difficult for all women, and especially adolescent girls. To reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, condoms should be provided free of charge to adolescents, making them easily accessible. Most American schools teach abstinence-only sex education, which teaches adolescents to abstain from sex. until they are married, because they don't want teenagers to have sex. Many parents believe that by educating their children about sexuality and how to practice safe sex, they will be more likely to have sex at a young age. Pro-life advocates believe that educating teenagers about safe sex practices will make them more likely to have sex at a young age and become pregnant, meaning abortion rates will increase. Parents and schools believe that providing condoms to adolescent girls will lead to more pregnancies because condoms do not always work. Although it is acceptable for teenagers to abstain from sex for as long as possible, both sides of the debate expect them to remain abstinent until marriage. is unfair to them as humans who have natural tendencies. Adolescents who have learned a holistic approach to sexuality do not have a higher rate of sexuality, as many parents may fear. In fact, a study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, looking at abstinence-only programs, found no evidence that these programs increase rates of sexual abstinence (Malone et al.). Both pro-life and pro-choice people dislike abortion, but providing condoms to teenage girls will not increase abortion rates. While it is true that condoms sometimes fail, their correct use reduces..