Exemplification essay

The following is an essay I had to write for my English class. If anyone has time to review it for spelling/grammar/content/organization I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance



Abstinence Pledges: Do They Work?

Virtually every person who resides in the U.S. has heard, at some point in their lives, that abstinence is the only form of birth control that is one hundred percent effective at preventing pregnancy. Parents preach this to their children; teachers relay this to their students; some birth control commercials even have a disclaimer at the end, amid the health warnings of strokes and blood clots, reminding sexually active women that abstinence is the sole foolproof contraceptive method. Countless programs are now encouraging teens to take an “abstinence pledge” in hope of convincing them to delay sexual activity until after marriage. Despite the federal funding poured into these programs, the overwhelming amount of support they have received from parents, and the pull on the heart-strings of teens’ budding morality, study after study shows that abstinence pledges and abstinence-only education do not work.

Following a slow but steady decline over the last fifteen years, recent U.S. data has shown that teen pregnancy rates have increased. There has been much debate and speculation among proponents of abstinence-only education and those who support comprehensive sex education about the whys of the rise in the rate of unmarried pregnant teens. Valerie Huber, executive director for the National Abstinence Education Association, explained the increase as being the result of “. . . an over-sexualized culture, lack of involved and positive role models, and the dominant message that teen sex is expected and without consequences” (Stein 1). On the other side of the abstinence fence, Dr. Richard S. Guido theorizes that, "Abstinence works for some teens, but the idea that most teens will wait to have sex indefinitely is rigid and impractical" (Reynolds 1).

In spite of billions of dollars of funding aimed at abstinence-only education programs as well as the support of numerous private institutions, teen pregnancy rates have still managed to increase. Beginning with the Clinton administration in 1996 and continuing through the whole of George W. Bush’s administration ending in 2008, funding for abstinence-only education increased at an exorbitant rate. By 2008 1.5 billion dollars of state and federal funds had been collectively allotted for abstinence-only education, and this is not taking into consideration additional funds awarded to specific states by their respective senators and supporting organizations (Gay 1-2). President Obama recently decided that educational programs stressing the abstinence-only approach just aren’t cutting it. The new Obama budget plan calls for a greater allotment of funding for plans that are scientifically proven to work, as well as a stipend for researching new approaches in an attempt to curb the newly rising teen pregnancy rates. Before this major cut at the federal level many U.S. states had already independently decided that the abstinence-only approach wasn’t working and opted out of the federally funded abstinence programs, choosing instead to teach a combination of both abstinence and contraceptive use.

A study conducted by the Journal of Adolescent Health found that teens who took abstinence pledges were more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as anal and oral sex, than teens who had not taken the abstinence pledge. The pledged teens showed no significant variation in the age that they became sexually active or in the number of sexual partners they accumulated compared to their non-pledged counterparts. The pledged teens were also found to be less likely to use contraceptives, including condoms, when they did become sexually active (“Many Teens” 1). This is likely to stem from the lack of formal education stressing to adolescents the importance of protecting themselves against disease and pregnancy. Since abstinence-only education doesn’t teach adolescents how to protect themselves in the event of sexual contact, preferring to focus solely on avoiding sex altogether, teens who break the pledge find that they are ill-prepared to deal with the responsibilities that being sexually active entails.

“Purity” rings and bracelets have gained marked popularity among teenagers. This is especially true for teenagers who come from a solidly religious background. These rings, often given to daughters by their father, are a physical symbol of the pledge taken to avoid sexual contact until marriage. In high school I was friends with a girl who ended up a pregnant, unwed teen yet still wore her purity ring throughout her pregnancy. My school also had a “Prom Promise.” This was a written contract that students were urged to sign stating that they promised not to have sex on prom night. The signing of the contract was accompanied by a rubber bracelet given to each student to show their support. I found it ironic at the prom after-party to watch couples peel off of the crowd and disappear into private rooms and secluded areas, promise bracelets intact.

The growing incident of teen pregnancy is a frightening trend that needs to be halted. Abstinence-only education and abstinence pledges have continually been proven to be ineffective. As the decade long federal emphasis on tactics such as these comes to an end, one can only hope for a better and more logical means of preventing our nation’s teens from continually making the same mistake. Drastic changes must be made now to prevent our nation from becoming a society full of children born to unwed, impoverished mothers in the future.