Planned Parenthood Education - Essay Example

Introduction Planned Parenthood education supersedes abstinence approaches. Planned Parenthood education involves giving comprehensive information to the youth in order to encourage responsible and capable parenting. This involves teaching young people responsible sexual behavior without necessarily making sex appear abnormal. The latter approach is taken up by abstinence advocates and most of them may not necessarily give neutral information. Such a method is doomed to fail because the US teenage population is quite exposed to sex images and information surrounding the topic. It would therefore be more reasonable to lay out all the options on the table and guide teenagers in the right direction. (Luker, 1996) Arguments for abstinence over Planned Parenthood education 'The Georgia Office of Adolescent Health and Youth Development's primary program offered to teens today is abstinence-only. The Children's Youth Coordinating Council (CYCC) currently funds over 110 Georgia programs with a budget totaling approximately $7.4 million; this budget is split among five program areas, one of which is designated to abstinence-only education with much of it going to support after-school programs.' (Parenthood of Georgia, 2008) In the US, there is an underlying belief that abstinence approaches are effective because of a number of reasons. First of all, adherents to this belief claim that there are certain social, physical and psychological effects that will come as result of expressing one's sexuality. Supporters of this principle claim that young people are not supposed to treat sex as part of their normal lives because their too young. They believe that any form of sex outside marriage is simply wrong and out of context. People who hold this perspective are guided by a certain set of moral values. The major principle behind these values is that marriage is the only place for sex. They also hold the view that engaging in any sexual activities before marriage will only make things worse for teenagers. There are some negative effects that will come out of premarital sex and must be avoided at all costs. Adherents to this believe normally hold the view that condoms have very high failure rates and other forms of contraceptives are not appropriate for young people as they do not offer one hundred percent guarantee. It should be noted that many families in the United States are founded upon religious beliefs even though many of them may not like to admit it. Religion requires young people to wait until; marriage. Consequently, it society is to remain intact then teenagers need to refrain form having sex completely. Arguments for Planned Parenthood education 'Teaching young people that premarital sex is a moral failure does not prevent pregnancy. studies show that those with fearful and negative attitudes about sexuality are less likely to use contraception when they have sex than those who believe they have a right to decide to have sex' (Ira, 1990). Planned Parenthood education is quite plausible because it will teach teenagers the fact that sexuality is a perfectly healthy part of life. Additionally, teenagers get to understand all the beliefs and attitudes about sex. This is because the approach does not hide any issue from them. Besides these, Planned Parenthood education ensures that young people understand the true meaning of relationships while teaching them interpersonal skills at the same time. This method requires teachers to give accurate information; meaning that teenagers will understand how to protect themselves using condoms and will decrease risks of contracting sexually transmitted disease. However, this does not undermine the fact that the approach also talks about the effectiveness of abstinence in preventing teenage pregnancies. The approach addresses the fact that this is the only sure way to prevent pregnancy. Planned Parenthood education not only offers knowledge surrounding sex. It also discusses issues such as; Human development Culture Society Interpersonal skills Relationships Sexual health It should also be noted that the United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancies compare to other developed countries. Teenage pregnancy rates in Netherlands, Germany and Netherlands make up only twenty percent of what is recorded in the United States yet there are strikingly similar statistics in these countries. For instance, teenagers in France and the other European countries normally start having sex at roughly the same age that other countries such as France and Germany do. However young couples in Europe take much longer to engage in sex as compared to other couples in the United States. Teenagers in the latter countries only need two weeks before engaging in intercourse. However those ones in European countries tend to wait a while longer. (Hatcher et al, 1998) Research conducted in those continent found that institutions have discovered a secret; Planned Parenthood education. In Europe, adults respect the fact that teenagers can act responsible if given the right instruments to achieve this. It has now become a common culture in Europe to find that their religious leaders, teachers, scientists and others advocate for sexually related programs. People in Europe have not applied any sort of politics in sexual education; instead, they have based it on scientific research. In Europe, sexual education is given in a confidential manner. These societies believe and accept the fact that adolescents have the right to be sexually active. They also direct most of the efforts in equipping young people with all the right information. In contrast, some States in the US adopt an ideological perspective. They spend numerous resources trying to keep young people from having sex yet this is quite fruitless. Most of them are already exposed and telling them not to do will not make them stop. (Luker, 1996) Planned Parenthood education is quite effective in dealing with teenage pregnancies because it provides teenagers certain options. For instance, they learn that they can prevent unwanted children even after intercourse by using the morning after pill. Additionally, they learn about the right to contraception and are empowered to make wise decisions. Those teenagers who have been told that contraception is morally wrong tend to avoid using it when having intercourse and this heightens chances of teenage pregnancy. Planned Parenthood Education is a progressive approach to prevention of teenage pregnancy this is because there is a realization that trying to stop teenagers from having intercourse may not necessarily make them stop. It accepts this reality and takes steps to prevent future instances Conclusion Surveys show that States implementing the Planned Parenthood approach have higher chances of achieving success than those who use abstinence only approaches. The latter method is very negative and mostly creates fear among the youth. Instead, teenagers should be given comprehensive sex education in order to empower them with the realistic choices. Reference: Parenthood of Georgia (2008); About Comprehensive Education; retrieved from http://www.plannedparenthood.com/ accessed on 30 May 2008 Luker, K. (1996); Dubious Conceptions, Harvard University Press Ira, R. (1990); Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, Prometheus Books17th Edition Hatcher et al (1998); Contraceptive Technology, Ardent Media Read More