For decades, the only form of sex education has been abstinence only and for decades it has been ineffective. Abstinence-only sex education rejects methods of contraception which would help prevent teen pregnancy rates; in doing so it in turn misguides adolescents to not using any form of contraceptive when engaging in sexual activities. Teen pregnancy in the United States almost triples that of France and Germany and is over four times that of the Netherlands. The teen birthing rate is nearly eight times higher than that of Netherlands’, over five times higher than France’s, and over four times as high as Germany’s. Abortion rates in the US double that of Germany and Greece. In the European Union, they have a set standard for their instruction of sexuality education; providing a comprehensive sexuality education has proved effective for them. The American system, in comparison to the European system in terms of sexuality education, is severely short-handed; studies have shown that lacking sexuality education leads to a higher teen pregnancy rate and an increased amount of people who suffer from STIs. Experts and researchers have proven that this condition could be avoided if the school-based sexuality education were of a better …show more content…
More than half of all people will have an STD or STI at some point in their life. Sexually transmitted infections directly cost the United States about $15.6 billion annually, the amount of money the US has the potential to save by initiating a program which would provide a comprehensive sexuality education equates to billions of dollars. Abstinence-only programs do not provide the knowledge to be able to know the signs or symptoms of an STD/STI. The most the current education system provides is maybe a week or so in physical education classes of limited and awkward conversation. Of all new STDs and STIs, nearly half occur in youths aged 15 to 25; the estimated total of these millions of new cases was equal to $6.5 billion, with HIV and HPV accounting for 90% of these cases. As many as one in five Americans have genital herpes, even so up to 90% of those infected are unaware of it. Receiving a comprehensive sexual education course, would make adolescents aware and mindful of practicing safe