Issue proposal for English-2

Teen pregnancy has steadily increased over the past decade to the point where it has become a serious problem in America. This is likely due to teens being misinformed about sex and using contraceptives improperly, and not because they suddenly want to become parents at a young age, like one of my cousins who had to get a job at a gas station instead of going to college to take care of his newborn. This is the reason why many parents want comprehensive sex education being taught at their children’s public schools, believing that being more informed about safe sex will likely cause pregnancy and STD infection rates among teens to decrease. While on the other hand, controversy surrounds the teaching of sex education, such as right here in Texas where the state enforces abstinence-only programs in health classes throughout its public schools. This is because some parents believe that sex education can actually be at fault for increasing teen pregnancy rates and STD infections, thinking the information their children are taught will be a conduit for sexual activity. The ongoing debate about sex education being taught in public schools is precisely why this semester I want to find whether comprehensive sex education programs have helped increase or decrease the rates of pregnancy and STD infections among teens. Similarly, I also want to research whether alternative sex education programs are effective at preventing teens from being sexually active, such as abstinence-only and abstinence-only plus programs, the plus being the acknowledgement of contraceptives, which teach teens that “abstinence [is] the only morally correct option of sexual expression for teenagers” (Alford 2001). I believe this issue is acceptable for a semester of sustained research because we live in a world where teens are being exposed to sex in nearly all forms of media, but are ostracized from openly discussing it. The topic of teen pregnancy has become glamorized when it’s portrayed in the media with shows like 16 & Pregnant and movies like Juno, which often gloss over the detrimental impacts a pregnancy can have on a young person physically, mentally, and financially that sex education programs, whether comprehensive or abstinence-only/plus, explain in detail. Among my classmates and my professor, it is safe to assume that we know of at least one close relative, friend, or co-worker who has gone through a pregnancy as a teen, and are aware that it affects their professional and personal lives tremendously. Even if there is someone in the room that has not personally felt the negative impacts a teen pregnancy can have on someone, they will with their bank account since “Texas will see nearly 24,000 unplanned births between 2014 and 2015”, which will end up “raising state and federal taxpayer’s Medicaid costs by up to $273 million” (Carr 2013).

Although I have not experienced a pregnancy or an STD infection firsthand, I have experienced the abstinence only programs that many public schools in Texas implement into their curriculum. For instance, I specifically remember talking about the dangers of drunk driving in detail, but when it came to learning about AIDS we were never truly told how to protect ourselves, just that it was sexually transmitted and there was no cure for it. This left me with more questions than answers, and made me wonder if not being taught about sex and how to use contraceptives was the reason why my school had a lot of problems addressing the amount of pregnant students on campus. Since I know how it feels to be left in the dark about the topic of sex education in public schools, I’ll be very concise when presenting this issue to an audience that knows nothing about it. I will begin with a logos approach by presenting them with information about how there has been an increase in pregnancy and STD infections among teens and how statistically “one in eight adolescent females (12.5%) in the United States will give birth by her 20th birthday” (Welti 2012). I would then discuss the main objectives that comprehensive sex education, abstinence-only plus, and abstinence-only programs have in common, one of which is to decrease the teen pregnancy rate in America. Similarly, I would also point out the different approaches these programs have taken when presenting students with information, such as how according to the website of Advocates for Youth, abstinence-only programs often shame students into thinking sex “outside of marriage will have harmful social, psychological, and physical consequences” (Alford 2001), as well as how comprehensive sex education often provides students with graphic images related to sex that some parents deemed inappropriate and gross as well as not considering abstinence at all when teaching students about safe sex. Transitioning into a pathos approach will include me talking about how some form of sex education is necessary in order to help young girls understand what options they have after conceiving, since according to an article by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “self-induced abortions have predominantly involved adolescents” (Coles 2007). Finally, I would then mention how according to the Population Reference Bureau, “high fertility among American teens may be related to surrounding income equality” (Hunter 2012). Basically meaning that low-income teens will likely need financial assistance that will come out of taxpayers in order to fund the increasing demand for WIC, Medicaid, and food stamps; since an increase in taxes is what usually gets Americans interested in an issue.

Even with the personal experience I have on the issue, there’s still a lot of statistical data that I need to obtain. Through a study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco and Guttmacher Institute, I was able to locate some graphs and information depicting the increase in pregnancy and STD infections among teens. Also, thanks to a library trip taken during my FS-NURS class, I was able to understand how to look for sources through UTA’s library database, which will help me locate peer reviewed journals and other accredited documents over teen pregnancy and sex education. Other important information I uncovered came from the official website of Advocates for Youth, and Do Something. These organizations provided me with most of the facts I know about the subject, and will look for other articles published by them as well as Time, The Huffington Post, and Women’s Health Magazine. I also uncovered an article from Salon magazine about a real life experience a woman had after being denied by her parents the right to be educated about her own body. Furthermore, in order to balance out the viewpoints, I went to the National Abstinence Education Association’s website and found an article about the benefits abstinence-only programs have on teens. Some questions that came to mind as I was researching about the effectiveness of sex education include: Is comprehensive sex education causing low teen pregnancy rates in states? Are teens who do have access to comprehensive sex education more likely to engage in sexual activity than those in abstinence-only/plus programs? How do the teen pregnancy and STD infection rates compare in countries who incorporate sex education in their classrooms with those in America? Does the shaming in abstinence-only/plus have any consequences on the actions of teens? Should it be left to the parents to teach their children about sex? Finding the answers to these questions will be necessary in order to provide the required amount of information needed to make my understanding on this issue more comprehensive.

Teaching sex education in public schools, much like evolution, has come under scrutiny with religious groups. Those associated with the Roman Catholic faith have especially been very vocal about their disapproval of the states who teach comprehensive sex education, since the Pope condemns the use of contraceptives and believes premarital sex is a sin. Also, many parents feel as if a classroom setting isn’t the best way to learn about such a sensitive issue and would rather have their children learn about sex at home. Furthermore, some pro-life advocates would be against sex education is public schools since they believe that contraceptives increase sexual activity, and therefore also increase unwanted pregnancies that could lead to abortions. On the other hand, allies towards the issue would include people who are concerned with the overall care and safety of the health for women. Planned Parenthood and the United Nations of Human Rights, for example, donates millions of dollars towards funding more comprehensive sex education in order to help decrease the teen pregnancy plague. Finally, other individuals who would be interested in this subject matter would be health care providers. Since there have been many claims about the inaccuracies and misleading information presented about reproductive health in abstinence-only/plus programs, the need to educate the public about these errors would cause them to support more comprehensive sex education since up to date and medically accurate information is one of its defining factors, even if it can be crude at times.

Sex education is necessary since according the department of Health and Human Services, “the U.S teen birth rate is higher than that of many other developed countries” (2014). No matter what form of sex education, whether it be comprehensive, abstinence-only/plus, or some other alternative, the underlying goal for all of them is to decrease the high pregnancy rate among teens as well as the STD infections that could lead to several health complications later on in life. Even if someone feels like sex education being taught in public schools has no impact on their lives, they couldn’t be more wrong since their tax money is used to fund these sex education programs and other forms of government assistance offered to teenage mothers.