Abstinence-only education worked for me, along with being educated on the potential risks involved with sexual intercourse, especially at a young age:  STDs, emotional scarring, pregnancy, et cetera.

oh Nurse jenna you missed again one of the very big main points.....how involved were the parents in these girls lives?why are we letting ths schols totally raise our kids?now i'm not saying i stayed absitent till marriage cuz i didnt.But growing up and still to this day i have a very open talking relationship with my parents.i was educated on how they'd like me to wait till marriage and why i should but they also told me if i chose to have sex to come to them and they would get me on birth control and you know what they held up to their end of the  bargain!

i just feel that a lot of parents these days are allowing other people to raise their kids.allowing other people to push their values onto THEIR kids.My parents talked to me and with me about every aspect of my life growing up i was made aware od std's early pregnancies and AIDS.I was also taught about the various forms of birth control and that the pulling out method was not a sure thing so please dont even try it.I was also talked to about me being adopted from the time i could understand it.When i needed help in school my parents didnt hire a tutor they talked to me.

While i can see your point of school's trying to help out kids by offering birth control i do not agree with it.we need to make a national movement to bring our kids back home where they belong for the parents to take responsibility for the kids they are raising.i know it's not feesible for every mother to stay home but that still doesnt mean you cant make efforts to talk with your kids and if you start it at an early age it wont seem awkward to them.if you're starting now while your kids is a bit older yes it will be awkward but as a parent your first job is to raise your children and to teach them and support them.

and i have another question for you ms jenna....i tried to pm it to you but i couldnt.are you yourself a parent?

You make a great point, Nurse Jenna.  Abstinence only education is a great concept, but it's just that a concept.  Teens in today's society are having sex and the # of children born to women under the age of 18 speaks for that.  The problem with abstitence only programs is that they only teach abstitence; the programs do not educate those who are going to choose or have already chose to have sex.  By educating teens about sex - the risks, consequences, why you should/shouldn't, etc you are lowering the statistics on teen pregnancy, stds, abortions, etc.  If is unfair to the youth today to not have access to birth control at school.  If they can have sex without permission then they should have the ability to protect themself without permission.  You can't even go into WalMart to buy condoms without being carded... it's ridiculous... I'm all for sex education and having birth control available to teens in schools as long as education accompanies it. 

And one more point... to those who will then say that sex education is the responsibility of parents I totally agree.  However, let's be honest - the majority of parents are too busy working and paying bills, barely scraping by to survive, to sit down and have 'the talk' with their child.  And if 'the talk' is happening most children are comfortable enough with the topic to discuss it with their parents - they go to their friends.  So let's educate these friends so the advice being given at least has some ounce of truth to it.

Ok sorry for a long comment... I'm off my soap box now :). ~Susan~

I totally agree. 

While I feel that parents should at least be informed that their teens are obtaining BC, realistically I realize that this would keep some teens from getting it.  Also I feel that parents should be more aware and more involved in their teens' lives so they should maybe have some inkling that their kids are having sex and should initiate a conversation with them about it.  My daughter is still too young to worry about this but I hope to encourage her to feel comfortable enough with her father and me to talk to us about her feelings and decisions.  I think that sex ed classes should emphasize abstinence more though, it seems they go with the attitude of you're going to do it anyway, but abstinence is the only 100% BC.  It'd be better if they delved more into the emotional side of it and other reasons to abstain besides it being the most reliable BC.

being a teenager myself, i am very aware of how prevalent sexual activities (or the talk about it) go on around me. but that's where it stops. my parents neverrr spoke to me about sex or anything of the sort. still, i know i am not ready, nor do i want to be sexually active around this age.

my high school teaches us all about abstinence but also about certain contraceptives that we can take and where to get them. i don't believe that they distribute them at school though.

so to answer the question, i think my school (and most others around the u.s.) pretty much know that not everyone is going to abide by their abstinence suggestion, even with the lessons on stds, pregnancy, etc. which is why they inform us thoroughly about how to use protection and whatnot.

still. just accepting that teens are going to have sex is somewhat unimaginable (maybe unethical?). that's like giving them the heads up and being okay with it. i'd rather they still try to steer us in the right direction.

@agent_ann@xanga - This to me is an ethical decision that each person makes for themselves, I do not make it for them.  What I do believe it is my responsibility to do is to "steer people in the right direction" in so much is that they take responsibility for their actions.  From a healthcare perspective (which is my job), this means preventing communicable diseases and unwanted pregnancies.  It is not my personal or professional position to tell them that it is right or wrong to have sex---that would depend on their personal values and beliefs and their emotional readiness. As long as there is no abuse involved, I am not there to decide who is "allowed."  I don't think it is the same as "encouraging sex" to provide information and contraception.  The sex is happening anyway. Again, from a healthcare perspective, we want to see this become "safe sex."

@javamommy@xanga - I didn't say let the parents off scott free, but the problems we are facing today cannot be fixed over night, or heck even in one generation.  I was lucky, my older brother was out of medical school by the time I got into high school, but most kids aren't that lucky.  There isn't enough big brothers and good aunts to reach every kid when they are in trouble.  We need to understand that and take action accordingly.

@la_vida_linda@xanga - or we need to start with ourselves...i know it cant be freely fixed over night.but what can we do with OUR own kids to help.i would love to see some statistics too(please dont think i'm being sarcastic cuz i'm not i'm wondering)of how high teen pregnancy rates were when teens had to go to planned parenting and get birth control with a parent to what they are now even when we hand out contraceptives freely.

also a good point nurse jenna brought up(see i dont tottaly disagree with her) is those girls that got pregnant at the highschool had made a pact to get pregnant.so like she pointed out the contraceptives at school wouldnt have helped.thats where i asked where were the parents in this time?

i dont think handing out free contraceptives without parent permission is a good idea regardless.plus if the kid is not even matur enough to say mom i'm having sex shes not mature enough to have sex in my opinion.and yes my two stepsons mom was a teen when she got pregnant why???because she was afraid to talk to her own mom.so instead of covering up the problem with a blanket lets get to the root of it

@la_vida_linda@xanga - well i'm glad you have a plan with your kids.and i'm sorry your mom was that way.i'll tell you when i went to my mom and asked her for birth control shesaid i thought you were already having sex and i was horrified!!!!she always told me she wouldnt stop me but wanted me to come to her so she could keep me as safe as possible.i guess i see how lucky i was to have a mom like her

This attitude of "kids will do it anyway" totally ignores the fact that kids can and do have self control.  We are not animals without a will and we should stop treating teens like they are.
Not every single teen has pre-marital sex.  Giving teens condoms is no different than giving them clean needles because they "surely will use drugs."  The worst part of all this is mothers that put their daughters on birth control so young men can take something precious from them.  It's so unbelievably sad.

I have to agree with your post. I know I had and have a very open relationship with my parents, but the topic of sex is never brought up at all, even to this day. I was sexually active very young (around 14/15) because I just wanted "it" over with. I was lucky enough that I have a disorder whose treatment is birth control, or who knows what may have happened to me back then. To this day I don't discuss "it" with my parents, and I wish I would have had easier access to information or consultation with a doctor about sexual things. Kids are going to have sex, whether or not they want them to, and with birth control at least accidents won't happen as often.