Letter To the NAEA: Age Appropriate Sexual Education

Wednesday, April 28, 2009

National Abstinence Education Association
1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006

Dear Valerie Huber and the NAEA Board of Directors,

I am writing to you as a concerned individual regarding the teachings of age appropriate sexual education. After I have done weeks of research, I have come to a bold conclusion. Abstinence-only programs remain inefficient; therefore should be terminated by all United States sexual education teaching courses. I ask you and the NAEA to consider the following information.

My question to you and the NAEA team is, if teenage pregnancy prevention is a main objective to this association, why is this association still contributing to protect abstinence-only approaches while they remain ineffective? In this day and age, how can you support and serve a sexual education approach that is ineffective and contributing to the increase in teen pregnancy rates?

The reason that abstinence only programs remain ineffective is because a secular trend has developed over the past century. This secular trend correlates adolescent’s ages and the time they achieve menarche or spermarche. A normal adolescent girl in the 1920’s reached puberty around the age of 13. The secular tend has now shown that a current females can go through menarche at an age of 7. The most daunting fact of secular tend is that girls at the age of 7–10 are at risk to becoming pregnant.

In the year 2006, 750,000 girls in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 19 that became pregnant, reported that their pregnancy was unplanned. This is an outstanding number of teenage girls and boys that may have ruined their lives from an irresponsible act that could have been prevented. I am not portraying that abstinence will never work, but rather I am implying that abstinence may only be effective until an age of experimenting in puberty. I believe that sexual education should be taught as separate age appropriate lessons. These hybrid lessons of abstinence and safe sex teachings have been inherited by communities and have noticed a significant drop in teen pregnancy rates. I am asking you and the NAEA to support and embrace the following ideas.

These classes consist of introducing a child to sex. First, abstinence is introduced at a level of strictly outlawing sex as a child. Abstinence is taught until a young teen age. Secondly, around the age of 11, teens will be introduced to a safe sex course that teaches when, why, and how, they should have intercourse. The main point that I am trying to make is abstinence will not overpower the urge to explore sexuality during puberty. Every teenager should have an adequate education when it comes to sexual education. Having this knowledge allows them to make responsible sexual decisions that may save lives. Now my question to you and the board of NAEA is, can you support these ideas and help fight against teen pregnancy with correct age appropriate sexual education?

Sincerely,

Josh Haveraneck

19231 Coachwood

Riverview Mi, 48193

Teen Pregnancy in Poor Social Economic Status.

Growing up within a poor economy can be hard enough for teens. Teens during these harsh times tend to be risker and try to experiment with what ever they can get away with. Drugs, alcohol, and parties can be just some of the things teens take risk with. Another risk poor teens like to take include sexual activity. Families with low social economic statuses tend to neglect teaching their kids sexual education. After many years of teen pregnancy declining, Michigan teens studies have shown a steady increase in the past 15 years. With many factors being discussed, a bad economy is one of the main factors. One of the reasons it is increasing is because people are having a had time finding the money to buy contraceptives. Getting your teen on "the pill," can range from 20 to 150 dollars depending on insurance. Even condoms are expensive. Programs in lower Michigan are being devised to bring down the teen pregnancy rates. Sexual behavioral courses are being provided for Michigan Downriver schools in hopes of decreasing teen pregnancy. People are now seeing more underlying issues that are brought upon teens and their parents.

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The Outlook of Teen Pregnancy.

Parents are not the only people looking out for teens when it comes to making the right pregnancy decisions. Communities, States, and Government officials are doing specific tasks to help teens prevent unwanted pregnancy. You can find lots of websites that are anti-teen pregnancy. The one website that caught my eye would be under "The National Campaign," website. This Educational based website was made to educate teens and parents on the rights and wrongs to sex. It shows what each states plans are to lower teen pregnancy, while recording and showing data of recent years. For an example, Governor Granholm plans teen pregnancy rates to drop 20%, during the next 5 year This site also shows different options that you have if you were to conceive a child. Also, this site has many sister sites included with it. These sites help for teenagers with different ethnics or religions. I found this site very helpful and easy to navigate through.

( http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/sla/The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy,2010)

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