Comprehensive Sexual Education—A Prevention Strategy

What is Comprehensive Sexual Education?

It is sexual education that encourages children to practice abstinence until marriage, but also provides adolescents with the information and instruction they need to engage in responsible sexual behavior at every phase of their lives. This means how to protect themselves from becoming pregnant or getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
The large organizations that support using Comprehensive Sexual Education in the schools are the foundation of our medical, educational, and psychological establishment—and they base their support for CSE on research results showing that it lowers the rates of both teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections: 

• The American Academy of Pediatrics
• The American Foundation for AIDS Research
• The American Medical Association
• The American Psychological Association
• The American Public Health Association
• The Institute of Medicine
• The Society for Adolescent Medicine
• 8 religious denominations
• The National Education Association
• The American School Health Association.
• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)

These professionals believe that young people must have accurate and sufficient information to make informed and responsible choices about their sexuality. ACOG, for example, does not believe that its arguments for CSE prevent parents from teaching and modeling responsible behavior in the home. Instead, ACOG believes that CSE opens a line of communication to assist parents in these conversations.
Polls concerning CSE have shown that 72 percent of junior-high-school parents and 65 percent of high-school parents support CSE in the schools.

American Teens

Although the American teen pregnancy rate has declined by one-third since the 1990s, it is still double that of Great Britain, 10 times Switzerland’s, and three times Canada’s.
Also higher among American teens are the rates of sexually transmitted infections. Chlamydia rates, for example, are twice those of Canada and Sweden, five times that of England, and 20 times that of France. Prevention through responsible sexual practices begins through Comprehensive Sexual Education.
Prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy begins early and continues throughout a person’s life. Talk to your healthcare provider for further guidance on a Comprehensive Sexual Education program in your home and in your community.