Schiappacasse 1

Annotated Bibliography

Are schools condoning teen pregnancy with poor sexual education?

Gabriela Schiappacasse

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

10/18/2018
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Annotated Bibliography

Advocates for Youth. “The Truth About Abstinence-Only Programs.” Advocatesforyouth.org,

www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/409-the-truth-about-

abstinence-only-programs. Accessed 23 Oct 2018.

The reliable website I found to use as one of my sources was Advocates for Youth.

“Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and

responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it

can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to

adolescent sexual health.” I found this website, this article in particular, to be very helpful

in my researching process. The 5-page long article touches on many claims made about

teens and their knowledge about sex and the reality of it which is that many teens have no

idea what they are doing or the potential consequences of their actions. This article

helped back up my initial inquiry question, “Are schools condoning teen pregnancy with

poor sexual education?” in that it talks about how “accurate, balanced sex education –

including information about contraception and condoms – is a basic human right of

youth” and that such knowledge helps young people understand and avoid unwanted

pregnancies, STD’s and many other health issues.

One of the issues this website has brought to light about my topic is the “why” in

“why aren’t we funding proper sexual education in schools.” One of the largest reasons is

funding. The article says that, “federal policy makers have provided large amounts of

funding for abstinence-only education – programs that ignore youth’s basic human right

and the fundamental public health principle of accurate, balanced sex education.” The

article helps highlight many problems associated with Abstinence-only programs.

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Abstinence-only programs have one goal and that is to prevent teens from engaging in

any sexual activities. These programs are used as scared tactics to scare youth out of the

inevitable, sex. The less they know, the more trouble they’re in.

Silverman, Lauren. “In Texas, Abstinence-Only Programs May Contribute To Teen

Pregnancies.” NPR, NPR, 5 June 2017, www.npr.org/sections/health-

shots/2017/06/05/530922642/in-texas-abstinence-only-programs-may-contribute-to-teen-

pregnancies. Accessed 23 Oct 2018.

The developed article I chose came from National Public Radio, NPR, and was

heard on Morning Edition. In this article, we follow Jessica Chester, a teen mom from

Texas. Chester attended high school in Garland Texas and decided to attend the

University of Texas at Dallas to become a doctor. Chester said that, “I was top of the

class. I had a GPA of 4.5, a full-tuition scholarship to UTD. I was not the stereotypical

girl someone would look at and say, 'Oh, she's going to get pregnant and drop out of

school” but right before her senior year, Chester then 17, got pregnant and continued the

line of teen pregnancy just as her mother and grandmother had. I chose this article

because of the topic specific content it had and its relatability. With this article there is a

real-life story about someone who was affected by the lack of proper sexual education

she had been given. This article puts it into perspective for the audience that this isn’t just

a problem on paper, but something that is happening worldwide and only increasing from

here.

Chester was a “full-time student at UT-Dallas at that point, double-majoring in

molecular biology and business administration. But the education she never got was sex
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ed.” Another reason I chose this article was because it talks about how poverty and

education play a part in the increased teen pregnancy rates, but it also dives deeper than

just that. A new study co-authored by Dr. Julie DeCesare, of the University of Florida's

OB-GYN residency program in Pensacola, talks about how the level of education you

receive, and your financial status aren’t the only things to blame for the increase in teen

pregnancy rates and that abstinence-only sexual education in schools is also at fault.

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F., and David W. Hall. “Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy

Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S.” PLOS ONE, Public

Library of Science, 14 Oct. 2011,

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0024658. Accessed 23 Oct

2018.

The third source I found was a peer reviewed article from the website, Public Library of

Science, PLoS. This article, like the others, talked about how abstinence-only programs are

ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy and STD’s. The article focuses on the controversy of

abstinence-only education being taught in schools and its correlation to teen pregnancy in the

Untied States. “Using the most recent national data (2005) from all U.S. states with information

on sex education laws or policies (N = 48), we show that increasing emphasis on abstinence

education is positively correlated with teenage pregnancy and birth rates.” In the simplest terms,

the data shown in the study confirms my initial inquiry question about poor sexual

education/abstinence-only education and its relationship to teen pregnancy.

I chose this article because unlike the others, this is data driven. “These data show clearly

that abstinence-only education as a state policy is ineffective in preventing teenage pregnancy

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and may actually be contributing to the high teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S.” The article

proposes the integration of comprehensive sex and STD education into the biology curriculum in

middle and high school science classes to properly educate the youth on making educated sexual

decisions whether it be for the present or future. Lastly, I chose this article because it compares

the rate of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. to that of other developed countries such as France,

Germany and the U.K. including this data puts the issue on a global scale for the audience. It

helps show that this problem is bigger than something that can be swept under the rug. The

article provides a counterargument in that “some argue that sex education that covers safe sexual

practices, such as condom use, sends a mixed message to students and promotes sexual activity”

but the data provided from the most recent national data (2005) from all U.S. States shows

otherwise.