Higher STD Rates Tied to Focus on Abstinence
Half of all young Americans will get a sexually transmitted disease by the age of 25, perhaps because they are ignorant about protection or embarrassed to ask for it, reports issued Tuesday suggested.
The reports, publicized by two nonprofit sexual and youth health groups, said there were 9 million new cases of sexual diseases among teens and young adults aged 15 to 24 in 2000.
They said said the U.S. government’s policy of preferring abstinence-only education would only increase those rates.
“For the 27 million young Americans under the age of 25 who have had sex, the stakes are simply too high to talk only about abstinence,” James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, said in a statement. “Given the prevalence of STDs, young people need all the facts -- including medically accurate information on condoms.”
The reports, released jointly by Advocates for Youth, a sex education group, and the sexual health-oriented Alan Guttmacher Institute, compiled information from sources like a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in the latest issue of the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, and a University of North Carolina report based on interviews with teens and young adults.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
