LifeNews.com Note: Roeten is a very conservative Catholic who likes the facts over readily displayed emotions. He is an editorial columnist who has frequently been published in numerous Internet and newspaper forums.

It’s been discovered. Nobody thought having “safe sex” was possible in every case. Each year 2.6 million teenagers become sexually active—a rate of 7000/day. With high school, nearly half report having engaged in sexual activity and 1/3 are currently active (Kim/Rector//Heritage Foundation).

As it turns out, teen sexual activity is extremely costly for teens and for society as a whole. From 1985-1990 alone, the federal government spent $120 billion on teenage childbearing. Teens who engage in sexual activity risk all kinds of costly and detrimental outcomes not limited to STD infections, emotional and psychological harm, lower educational attainment, and unmarried childbearing. All of these have direct impact on Medicare, Medicaid, government spending----and the budget.

It is known that STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) infect -- about 12 million Americans per year, with 65,000 plagued with an incurable form (CDC). STDs are a direct cause of infertility in both men and women .

Nearly half of all pregnancies as well as 1 million teen pregnancies (95%) are unintended (CDC), and there are approximately 40,000 new HIV infections per year. An estimated 1.3 million babies die every year through abortion, and 84% of all US abortions are performed on unmarried women (US Dept of Commerce; GPO/1998). Teens who have babies out of wedlock are more likely to end up at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. All of these numbers have huge economic implications for the country.

But society has found something that works 100% of the time. They found something on which you can completely depend---much better than condoms which may work part of the time. And that’s if you use them right.

The answer is easy, even though many don’t want to hear it--- “abstinence until marriage”. It breaks the unwritten rule of sex on demand. It clearly illuminates the slavery to our desires so many of us face. And it emblazons the oft repeated saying, “Why buy the cow, if the milk is free?”

Self-control is like an immune system. People who abhor sexual-control think they are breaking free, but in reality are breaking down. Control yourself and you will not be repressed—you will be free.

Our children are not animals incapable of controlling themselves and “will do it anyway”. Yet “comprehensive” sex-ed teaches them that they're just that.

But recently, a new study by the research firm Mathematica found that in the five programs that they studied, abstinence-instructed kids showed no statistical change in sexual behavior.

But what was actually learned was this study looked at only five programs out of more than 900 in place. It was also determined this program targeted children 9 to 11 who were not evaluated until four years later. Abstinence Education: Assessing the Evidence (Kim/ Rector) found 16 of the 21 studies completed so far reported positive results, while 5 studies did not report any significant positive results.

Zogby (5/8/07) found that 83% of parents think it is important for their child to wait until marriage to have sex. The Journal of Adolescent and Family Health concluded that a 66% decrease in teen pregnancy was due to teens choosing abstinence. The CDC showed a 53% decrease. But abstinence programs federally funded over the last 11 years still have many critics.

But several dozen Congressional abortion advocates have signed a letter to the House Appropriations Committee asking to cut all funds for abstinence education (Ertelt/LifeNews). According to the CDC, there has been a 13% decrease in the % of teens who have ever had sex between 1991 and 2005. Some 17 states have rejected this funding.

It’s interesting to note that our government has spent $12 on the comprehensive sex-ed/Planned Parenthood approach for every $1 spent on true abstinence projects. PP would love to zero-fund its competitors, especially since abstinent kids don’t spend any time in their clinics.

As parents, our offspring are worth everything. We want to keep them from developing STDs, AIDS, HIV, going through abortions, lower educational development, slavery, you name it. We have “abstinence until marriage” which guarantees freedom from the above. And we know simple abstinence education gives significantly better chances from those pitfalls.

Now what would make a parent shy away from 100% chance of surviving an experience with some of the worst occurrences that exist.
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