Abstinence-until-marriage is the safest, healthiest choice for teens, and new data released this week from the CDC shows that increasing numbers of teensand young adults are making this choice. Currently a majority of American high school aged teens have never had any sex of any kind (53% boys, 58% girls).
Inspite of this positive trend toward abstinence, the State of Illinois has eliminated all funding for schools to teach abstinence-until-marriage programs and has turned down federal grants for teaching abstinence in Illinois. Not satisfied that schools across the state are still teaching abstinence, the State Senate wants to go further still by seeking to ban such programs in Illinois schools outright through legislation (SB1619). Even though more teens are choosing abstinence, and the majority have never had sex, the Illinois Senate is doing its part to see that this shift toward abstinence by Illinois teens is brought to a screeching halt. And while it may seem crazy to think that abstinence education programs would be outlawed in Illinois, that’s exactly what SB1619 would do because as one Senator told me this week, “We just think that abstinence until marriage is so unrealistic.” With “leaders” like this in our capitol: Pity the children.
Scott Phelps, Executive Director, Abstinence & Marriage Education Partnership, Chicago
Read the USA Today overview of the CDC Report
