Menstuff® has compiled the following information on
abstinence.
Use Abstinence - the Condom
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What is abstinence?
Abstinence
The Purity Test
Abstinence isn't the only way to stay
STD free
Abstinence students still having (unsafe)
sex
Abstinence-only sex ed not
as effective
Few Americans favor
abstinence-only sex ed
100% Effective Birth
Control
Continuous Abstinence
Periodic Abstinence or Fertility Awareness
Methods (FAMs)
Abstinence
Failure
Virginity Pledge - Does it
Work?
Chastity
Pledge does not reduce
STD rate
Abstinence and Safer Sex HIV
Risk-Reduction Interventions for African American
Adolescents
Abstinence Talk Not Enough,
Pediatricians Say — Teens Need Access To Birth
Control
U.K. schoolgirl loses ‘virginity
ring’ court battle
Helping Kids Stay Safe
'Abstinence Awareness' assumes way too
much
Some Stats
Some communities that have tried an
Abstinence Awareness Week
Related Issues: Abstinence-only,
abstinence
failure, abstinence
not safe, condom
use.
What are the advantages of choosing abstinence?
What are the disadvantages?
If you're counting on abstinence, and change your mind in the heat of the moment, you might not have birth control handy.
Where can I learn more?
What you do sexually is an important decision. So start by thinking it through carefully yourself. You may want to discuss your decision with another person whom you respect. You may want talk it over with your partner. Check with your local family planning association, temple or church, or local health department for an organized support group or program for young people wanting to wait until they are ready before having intercourse.
What if I have sex and don't use birth control?
Did you know that up to 120 hours (five days) after unprotected
sex, you can take emergency contraceptive pills to reduce your risk
of becoming pregnant? And, sooner is better, so don't wait! This
method will not protect you against sexually transmitted infections.
Not all doctors know about emergency contraception. To learn more,
read about emergency contraception and/or check with your local
clinic.
Source: Adapted from Hatcher RA et al. Contraceptive
Technology. 18th rev. edition. New York, NY: Ardent Media, 2004,
www.advocatesforyouth.org/youth/health/contraceptives/abstinence.htm
Some people, especially people who think it's not cool to wait to have sex, think that abstinence is a completely bad thing. Actually, there are some really good things about abstinence and some of them might apply to you.
Ways to Express Love Without Sex
There are millions of nonsexual ways to show someone you like
them. You can show a person you care for them by spending time with
them. Go to the movies. Or just hang out and talk. If you are with
someone you really like, then anything can be fun. There are other
ways to feel physically close without having sex. These ways include
everything from kissing and hugging to touching and petting each
other. Just remember that if you're not careful these activities can
lead to sex. Plan beforehand just how far you want to go, and stick
to your limits. It can be difficult to say NO and mean it when things
get hot and heavy.
Source: www.iwannaknow.org/prevention/abstinence.html
Effectiveness
Advantages
Possible Problems
Cost
None
Periodic Abstinence or Fertility Awareness
Methods (FAMs)
Includes:
Effectiveness
Advantages
Possible Problems
Cost
Abstinence and Safer Sex HIV Risk-Reduction
Interventions for African American Adolescents
Abstinence
Talk Not Enough, Pediatricians Say — Teens Need Access To Birth
Control
Abstinence-only sex education is not the best way to prevent unwanted teenage pregnancies, says a leading group of pediatricians that also recommends providing all teens, not just those who are already sexually active, with access to birth control, including emergency contraception.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' updated teen-pregnancy policy report, which appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, amends the group's 1998 report by scrapping the statement that "abstinence counseling is an important role for all pediatricians." The new draft instead asserts that while doctors should encourage their young clients to hold off on sexual activity, they should also ensure that all teenagers have access to birth control, including emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill.
The academy notes that while adolescent pregnancy and birth rates have steadily declined over the past 13 years, many teens are still becoming pregnant. More than 45 percent of high-school females and 48 percent of high-school males report having engaged in sex, according to the report. The average age of their first such experience was 17 years for girls and 16 years for boys.
"Even though there is great enthusiasm in some circles for abstinence-only interventions, the evidence does not support [that] as the best way to keep young people from unintended pregnancy," Dr. Jonathan Klein, chairman of the academy committee that wrote the report, told The Associated Press.
The most successful prevention programs, the report says, include multiple and varied approaches to the problem, including abstinence promotion alongside information about, and availability of, contraceptives.
But Wade F. Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said teaching teens the abstinence-only approach to sex is best because it sends a clear, consistent message. Teens who are sexually active should have access to contraception, Horn told the AP, but making birth control available to teens who aren't having sex sends a conflicting message.
While birth-control methods such as the pill are not 100 percent effective in preventive pregnancy, they can reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 92 percent, according to Planned Parenthood, a national source of reproductive healthcare services. With the exception of condoms, however, birth control does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.
Emergency contraception, available for more than 25 years, could prevent 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions each year in the U.S., Planned Parenthood estimates. Nearly half of America's 6.3 million annual pregnancies are accidental, while as many as 80 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended.
The academy also noted that teen birth rates in the U.S. are much higher than in comparable industrialized nations with less-restricted access to contraception. As of 2004, the U.S. teenage birth rate is the highest in the developed world, Planned Parenthood says. It is twice as high as Canada's, four times as high as Germany's, seven times as high as the Netherlands', and nearly nine times as high as Japan's.
Source: Brandee J. Tecson, www.mtv.com/news/articles/1505295/07062005/id_0.jhtml?headlines=true
Abstinence students
still having sex
Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex a few years later as those who did not, according to a long-awaited study mandated by Congress.
Also, those who attended one of the four abstinence classes reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes, and they first had sex at about the same age as their control group counterparts — 14.9 years, according to Mathematica Policy Research Inc.
The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education. Critics have repeatedly said they don’t believe the programs are working, and the study will give them reinforcement.
However, Bush administration officials cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from the study. They said the four programs reviewed — among several hundred across the nation — were some of the very first established after Congress overhauled the nation’s welfare laws in 1996.
Not like vaccines
Officials said one lesson they learned from the study is that the abstinence message should be reinforced in subsequent years to truly affect behavior.
“This report confirms that these interventions are not like vaccines. You can’t expect one dose in middle school, or a small dose, to be protective all throughout the youth’s high school career,” said Harry Wilson, the commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families.
For its study, Mathematica looked at students in four abstinence programs around the country as well as students from the same communities who did not participate in the abstinence programs. The 2,057 youths came from big cities — Miami and Milwaukee — as well as rural communities — Powhatan, Va., and Clarksdale, Miss.
The students who participated in abstinence education did so for one to three years. Their average age was 11 to 12 when they entered the programs back in 1999.
Mathematic then did a follow up survey in late 2005 and early 2006. By that time, the average age for participants was about 16.5. Mathematica found that about half of the abstinence students and about half from the control group reported that they remained abstinent.
“I really do think it’s a two-part story. First, there is no evidence that the programs increased the rate of sexual abstinence,” said Chris Trenholm, a senior researcher at Mathematica who oversaw the study. “However, the second part of the story that I think is equally important is that we find no evidence that the programs increased the rate of unprotected sex.”
Trenholm said his second point of emphasis was important because some critics of abstinence programs have contended that they lead to less frequent use of condoms.
Mathematica’s study could have serious implications as Congress considers renewing this summer the block grant program for abstinence education known as Title V. The federal government has authorized up to $50 million annually for the program. Participating states then provide $3 for every $4 they get from the federal government. Eight states decline to take part in the grant program.
Some lawmakers and advocacy groups believe the federal government should use that money for comprehensive sex education, which would include abstinence as a piece of the curriculum.
“Members of Congress need to listen to what the evidence tells us,” said William Smith, vice president for public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which promotes comprehensive sex education.
“This report should give a clear signal to members of Congress that the program should be changed to support programs that work, or it should end when it expires at the end of June,” Smith said.
Smith also said he didn’t have trouble making broader generalizations about abstinence programs based on the four reviewed because “this was supposed to be their all-star lineup.”
But a trade association for abstinence educators emphasized that the findings represent less than 1 percent of all Title V abstinence projects across the nation.
“This study began when (the programs) were still in their infancy,” said Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association. “The field of abstinence has significantly grown and evolved since that time and the results demonstrated in the Mathematica study are not representative of the abstinence education community as a whole.”
The four programs differed in many respects. One was voluntary and took place after school. Three had mandatory attendance and served youth during the school day. All offered more than 50 hours of classes. Two were particularly intensive. The young people met every day of the school year.
Common topics included human anatomy and sexually transmitted
diseases. Also, classes focused on helping students set personal
goals and build self-esteem. The young people were taught to improve
communication skills and manage peer pressure.
Source: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18093769/wid/11915773?GT1=9303
U.K. schoolgirl
loses ‘virginity ring’ court battle
A teenager whose teachers had stopped her wearing a “purity ring” at school to symbolize her commitment to virginity has lost a High Court fight against the ban.
Lydia Playfoot, 16, says her silver ring is an expression of her faith and had argued in court that it should be exempt from school regulations banning the wearing of jewelry.
“I am very disappointed by the decision this morning by the High Court not to allow me to wear my purity ring to school as an expression of my Christian faith not to have sex outside marriage,” Playfoot said in a statement Monday.
“I believe that the judge’s decision will mean that slowly, over time, people such as school governors, employers, political organizations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from publicly expressing and practicing their faith.”
Series of disputes
Playfoot’s legal challenge was the latest in a series of disputes in British schools in recent years over the right of pupils to wear religious symbols or clothing, such as crucifixes and veils.
Last year, the Law Lords rejected Shabina Begum’s appeal for permission to wear a Muslim gown at her school in Luton. That case echoed a debate in France over the banning of Muslim headscarves in state schools.
Playfoot’s parents are key members of the British arm of the American chastity campaign group the Silver Ring Thing, a religious group which urges abstinence among young people.
Those who sign up wear a ring on the third finger of the left hand. It is inscribed with “Thess. 4:3-4,” a reference to a Biblical passage from Thessalonians which reads: “God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin.”
During the case, Playfoot’s lawyers argued that the ban by her school in Horsham, West Sussex, breached her human rights to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” which are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lawyers for the school denied discrimination and said the purity ring breached its rules on wearing jewelry.
They said allowances were made for Muslim and Sikh pupils only for items integral to their religious beliefs and that, for the same reason, crucifixes were also allowed. But it argued that the purity ring was not an integral part of the Christian faith.
Playfoot said in her statement she would consult her legal team to
consider whether to appeal.
Source: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19806312/?GT1=10150
This comes just as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a piece of legislation that would make the state support condom distribution in jails through The Inmate Community Public Health Act.
Both stories typically have two reactions: “good!” or a disturbed expression on the face. If the disturbed look emanates from the thought of either two 11-year-olds or two inmates having sex, then maybe the “good!” emanates from the same thought but with a placating vision of them wearing a condom or a girl on birth control.
Anne Squires is a family nurse practitioner at Eastern Senior High School, in Washington D.C., where she said at least 30 girls get pregnant every year. Over the six years that she has been at the school she has noticed that STDs and other reproductive concerns are one of the top reasons why students visit the clinic, which is only one of two in health clinics in the District located inside of a school.
"I think we have to be realistic," Squires said. "If [students] have made that choice then I feel it's my responsibility to help them make safe choices."
And according to the city of Portland, students as young as
11-years-old are making the choice to have sex. The Washington
Post reported that Portland’s three middle schools had seven
pregnancies in the last five years
Source: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101800358_2.html
'Abstinence
Awareness' assumes way too much
Loyola Life's flyers ask the men and women of Loyola to give their significant others something besides an STD for Valentine's Day. This statement can only assume that Loyola Life believes that there is no such thing as a committed relationship.
After all, STDs do not spring up out of nowhere; they must be contracted. Two people in a completely- monogamous relationship are not going to give each other STDs they don't have.
Therefore, one or both parties must be cheating on the other for there to be any possibility of spreading an STD to their partner. Also, Loyola Life must believe that not only are all of the relationships at Loyola corrupted by infidelity but that the cheating partner is also willing to put their significant other at risk by having sex with them after having sex with someone else.
I find it sad and offensive that Loyola Life has such a low
opinion of their peers. Before trying to spread a message based on
fear, they should get a realistic attitude about committed
relationships and wake up to the fact that having sex does not
automatically result in getting an STD.
Source: Liz McCollum, religious studies/classics
junior, media.www.loyolamaroon.com/media/storage/paper542/news/2004/02/20/Editorial/abstinence.Awareness.Assumes.Way.Too.Much-613292.shtml
Abstinence isn't the only way to stay
STD free
Source: www.heritage.org/Research/Abstinence/whitepaper06142005-2.cfm
Some communities
that have tried an Abstinence Awareness Week
Many people are offended by the truth.
The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others. - Bertrand Russell
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