Abstinence-Only Sex Education
https://www.humantruth.info/abstinence_only.html
By Vexen Crabtree 2026
Abstinence-only sex education does not work - it doesn't reduce unwanted pregnancies, even amongst teenagers and doesn't reduce the rate of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This approach has been tried repeatedly, earnestly and with dedication by conservative Christian communities in the USA. But the results are consistent in that this kind of education grossly over-estimates to what extent doctrine and willpower can overcome human nature1, and fails to prepare students what to expect from the realities of life, making unwanted pregnancies and STDs more common, in some cases, doubling their rates in areas that teach abstinence-only education compared to others that teach comprehensive sex education.2,3,4,5,6,7
In the 2005-2009 era, US abstinence programmes were made a mandatory part of foreign aid to Africa to combat AIDS but it performed so poorly, causing increased rates of unprotected sex, re-amplifying disinformation and stigma surrounding sexual health issues, and subsequently caused HIV infections to increase. The evidence was so negative that it was removed from US policy in 2009.8,9,10.
- An Ineffectual Technique
- Christian (Specifically US) Abstinence-Only Education Campaigns
- The Failure of US-Led Abstinence-Only Education Programmes in Africa
- Links
1. An Ineffectual Technique
"Studies have found that abstinence-only sex education programs actually increase the rates of pregnancy and STDs in the teenage population"11. "Kirsten Underhill and her colleagues at the University of Oxford have, over the past few months, been testing it"4. Their studies involved 16 000 young people in America and compared Christian abstinence-only education with no (or low key) education.
“Pregnancies were as numerous in both groups. Sexually transmitted diseases were as widespread. The number of sexual partners was equally high and unprotected sex just as common. [...] In contrast to the fears of the protagonists of abstinence-only-education, not one of the trials found that teenagers behaved in a riskier fashion in either the long or the short term after receiving [condom] instruction.”
The Economist (2007)4
Another review by H.B. Chin (2012) of 89 previous studies found that comprehensive sex education reduces adolescent pregnancy rates and STDs, but, no positive results for abstinence-only education6.
From 2001 to 2009 in the USA, the Bush administration funded abstinence-only education programmes to unprecedented levels, but, the results were very poor indeed. The US CDC reported in 2009 that STDs and adolescent pregnancies were the worst in states that embraced abstinence-only education, reversing long-term downwards trends in both those problematic events. Cases of syphilis and gonorrhoea in teenagers, after a 20-year span of falling rates, increased sharply (up to 50% more) as a result of abstinence-only education, and HIV and AIDS cases in adolescent boys nearly doubled.
“The number of teen pregnancies is double in areas where abstinence is the only method of birth control taught as opposed to areas where there is comprehensive sex education and condoms are handed out.”
National Secular Society (2009)12
And hence, Veronique Mottier nifty book tactfully under-states the problems of abstinence-only education:
“Such programmes have generally been unsuccessful in radically changing sexual behaviour or in reducing rates of HIV/Aids transmission, as health evaluations have demonstrated.”
"Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction"
Veronique Mottier (2008)2
But why? Because it has simply always been the case that abstinence is almost impossible; neither strict laws, social taboos nor religious demands manage to make anyone celibate - even priests and monks who profess celibacy as a part of a lifelong-developed discipline, are normally engaged in sexual behaviour with others; in 1961, Ellis and Abarbanel concluded that "the widespread violation suggests that the average human is incapable of permanent or even extended abstinence"1.
Noting that the insistence upon abstinence-only despite the evidence has attracted the interest of critical thinkers and pseudo-science monitors, who point out that basic evolutionary biology provides the bulk of the reason for abstinence failing as a birth control and STD-prevention method:
“The human sexual urge was shaped by evolution to ensure procreation, and it works extraordinarily well. Given the right psychological triggers, just about everyone, including presidents of the United States and prominent religious leaders, will risk it all for a forbidden sexual encounter. To insist that society rely solely on abstinence rather than contraception is to deny an instinct against which the gods themselves cannot contend. The entire history of humankind can be read as a testament to the power of that instinct.”
"Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science" by Robert L. Park (2008)3
2. Christian (Specifically US) Abstinence-Only Education Campaigns
#birth_control #christianity #sex #USA #usa_health
Christian mythology asserts that God prefers Homo Sapiens (but no other species) to have legal contracts with each other (marriage) in order to procreate. Conservative Christians often talk about "abstinence-only" education, and in many states in the USA have conducted battles to stop schools from educating children about safe sex. Instead, they teach, that in order to be responsible Christians, we must abstain from sex until marriage. They are willing to force this upon others regardless of whether they believe the same thing, and therefore, think that it is not necessary to conduct birth control - the only way, is to abstain from sex until you're married.
"Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction"
Veronique Mottier (2008)13
The concept of abstinence-only education was put into force across several states as a result of George W. Bush's policies in support of it, but the results were terrible. In 2009, states that implemented reversed a long-term downwards trend in STD and adolescent-pregnancy rates. Across the Bible-belt, a swathe of Southern states in the USA famous for their neo-conservative Christianity, Bush's abstinence-only push was most enthusiastically embraced and its there that the CDC reported the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.
“To the surprise of few outside the rarefied world of the Religious Right, it has emerged that George W Bush's "abstinence only" policies led directly to a rise in teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The Centres for Disease Control (CDC) says that after years of falling rates, teen pregnancies and STDs started rising after Bush was re-elected in 2005.
According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but rose sharply in more than half of American states after 2005. The number of teenage girls with syphilis had risen by nearly half after a big decrease, while a 20-year fall in the gonorrhea infection rate was being reversed. AIDS cases in adolescent boys had nearly doubled. [...]
The number of teen pregnancies is double in areas where abstinence is the only method of birth control taught as opposed to areas where there is comprehensive sex education and condoms are handed out. [...] Religious proponents of the "abstinence-only" policies still insist that the reason for the rise is because their policies were not promoted hard enough.”
National Secular Society (2009)12
The public health sector in the USA accepted the evidence, but it is still pushed for political reasons in the more religious states, resulting in exasperation by those trying to improve US declining health outcomes. This review summary was published in the US's Journal of Adolescent Health in 2017:
“Adolescence is marked by the emergence of human sexuality, sexual identity, and the initiation of intimate relations; within this context, abstinence from sexual intercourse can be a healthy choice. However, programs that promote abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) or sexual risk avoidance are scientifically and ethically problematic and - as such - have been widely rejected by medical and public health professionals. Although abstinence is theoretically effective, in actual practice, intentions to abstain from sexual activity often fail. Given a rising age at first marriage around the world, a rapidly declining percentage of young people remain abstinent until marriage. Promotion of AOUM policies by the U.S. government has undermined sexuality education in the United States and in U.S. foreign aid programs; funding for AOUM continues in the United States. The weight of scientific evidence finds that AOUM programs are not effective in delaying initiation of sexual intercourse or changing other sexual risk behaviors. AOUM programs, as defined by U.S. federal funding requirements, inherently withhold information about human sexuality and may provide medically inaccurate and stigmatizing information. Thus, AOUM programs threaten fundamental human rights to health, information, and life. Young people need access to accurate and comprehensive sexual health information to protect their health and lives.”
J.S. Santelli, L.M. Kantor, S.A. Grilo, C.J. Heck, J. Rogers, M.A. Ott
and others (2017)7
3. The Failure of US-Led Abstinence-Only Education Programmes in Africa
#africa #birth_control #Christianity #kenya #kenya_health #public_health #sex #uganda #USA #zambia #zambia_health
After international health programmes had seen widespread success from condom education and distribution in Africa, HIV and other STD transmission rates were reducing. But between 2003 and 2009 under President Bush's explicitly Christian administration, the USA pushed abstinence-only sex education, making it a mandatory requirement of foreign aid outreaches under the guise of "AB" (Abstinence and Be faithful) doctrine.
Unlike comprehensive sex education, independent evaluations consistently found these programmes did not delay sexual behaviour in adolescents, did not reduce adolescent pregnancy, and did not lower HIV or STD rates8,9. In Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and elsewhere, abstinence-only messaging displaced evidence-based condom promotion, causing misinformation about condoms and distrust of health officials, stagnating and reversing earlier gains in HIV prevention10. Christian abstinence-only curricula reinforced stigma about sex, discouraged open discussion of sexual health. Abstinence-only approaches were widely judged unsuccessful8,9,10 and were later removed from the USA's AIDS relief PEPFAR policy framework in 2009 by the US government under Obama.