Abstinence-Only Sex Ed | Original Sin: Sex

By the 1990s in the U.S., most of the advances to public sex education made since the 50s are political roadkill.

Late 90s, there is this increase in abstinence-only sex education. In 1993, the Southern Baptists asked American teens to put a ring on it as part of the True Love Waits campaign. A lot of young people were taking abstinence pledges. Young people converged at conferences around the globe where they made contractual agreements or covenants starting with the words "True Love Waits." They pledged abstinence.

Our goal actually is to create a culture shift in America. We want to see the concept of abstinence be the norm rather than the exception. Abstinence allows time for people to have a good relationship. Abstinence-only focuses on the fact that sex involves risks. It encourages children to exercise self-control, which is going to be important for them not only prior to marriage but also during marriage. Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

When I think of abstinence-only education, I think this is obviously being promoted by people who don't understand human sexuality. There's a lot of fear-mongering and a lot of scare tactics in this abstinence-only education. What if I want to have sex before I get married? Well, I guess you just have to be prepared to die, and you'll probably take with you your spouse and one or more of your children.

I'm not doing sex ed; they're doing sex dred. It was a disaster. Three-fourths of these young people who had pledged virginity until marriage had sex before they got married, and they weren't prepared for it. So they just wound up having a lot of unprotected sex.

In Palm Beach County, Florida, 1,400 teenage girls became pregnant last year, and a number of kids contracting AIDS doubled.