Abstinence Up U.s. Department Of Health And Human ...

Abstinence Up U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials, Wade Horn and Jeffrey Trimbath, publicly defend abstinence education programs. They claim the goal of such programs is to delay teens’ introduction to sexual activity, noting reliable statistics indicate that’s exactly what it takes to reduce teen pregnancies. They cite a recent National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy study which found that if teenagers delay the onset of sexual activity and reduce the number of partners they have, they are much less likely to become pregnant or get someone pregnant compared to those who don’t. Teens are adopting abstinence as their personal standard, and “According to the CDC, the percentage of teens who report that they have had sex has decreased from 54% in the early ‘90s, to 46% today.” Today a majority of teens are abstinent. (BP News 8/8/06)