Facts 

 

  • More than half of all teenagers are virgins  until they are at least 17 years of age.
  • Most sexually active teens wish they had waited longer to have sex. ( Bill Albert, With One Voice 2004: America's Adults and Teens Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy).
  • One in four teenagers contracts an STD every year.
  • America leads the developed world in deaths and disabilities related to STDs.
  • STDs are very common but are extremely difficult to track.  Infected persons often may not have symptoms and, so, go undiagnosed.  STDs that are diagnosed are frequently not reported and counted.  This results in an epidemic with low visibility but high risk to teenagers.  (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tracking the Hidden Epidemics:  Trends in STDs in the United States, Atlanta, GA:  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000).
  • Each year more than one million teens become pregnant. (Fort Bend Alert Statistics, Family Research Council).
  • “Abortion ratios were highest for adolescents aged 15 years (744 per 1,000 live births).” (Abortion Surveillance – US, 2001-CDC/National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.)
  • Out of 1,000 babies born, 58.6 were born to older teenagers 18-19 years old.  Rates were considerably lower for younger teens.  (National Vital Statistics Reports, Volume 52, No. 10, December 17, 2003.  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)
  • 73.5 percent of parents approve or strongly approve of abstinence-centered sex education.  61 percent of parents disapprove or strongly disapprove of “comprehensive” or “safe sex” education.  (From a February 13, 2005 press release by the Coalition for Adolescent Sexual Health, www.crosswalk.com.)

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