Implementation of Sex Education: Issues of Premarital Sex, Teenage Pregnancy, Abortion, and STDs

Sex education should be implemented as a curriculum for elementary students for them to be responsible and aware about the issues of pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, abortion, and STDs (HIV and AIDS). Sex education can be a path for the better subsequent and tend to vanish the legal issues about STDs and improper birth control. Because sex education can mold the children’s viewpoint about the proper time of sex life and widen their perspective regarding the legal issues caused by illiteracy about sex. For today’s generation, schooling is designed as a stepping stone for the change of the future throughout technology but does not focus upon the legal issues the world is facing right now. But why do not we look upon the reality which can enlighten up our minds to solve these legal issues? The problems about birth control and STDs are expanding. Is implementing sex education among elementary students really a solution for this matter? Or it will just open the curiosity of the children through sex and birth?

Sexual activity during the teenage years may represent a risk to teenagers, especially to the women, their quality of living may affect and as well as their health. This kind of practice can lead to an increased rate of abortion and teenage pregnancy. This sexual activity is called “premarital sex” according to Bogale, “Youth who begin early pre-marital sexual activity are more likely to be engaged in unsafe sex”. The primary purpose of sex education is to reduce the rate of teenage pregnancy and abortion. It emphasizes the reduction of teenage pregnancy through sex education and it promotes the correct understanding of human sexuality. Based to Cecilia Espinoza, a Senior Advocacy Advisor “Comprehensive sexuality education programs have a positive impact on young people’s sexual and reproductive health—and their ability to make safe and informed decisions. But the topic of abortion remains absent from most programs, even in places where abortion is legal.” This diminishes young people’s ability to avoid the dangers of unsafe abortion, to make fully informed choices, and to exercise their right to safe, legal abortion. In a modernized country, many children are involved in social media, many children are prone to sexual sites without knowledge about sex. An elementary student should be introduced in sexual education by simply learning the basic human anatomy, especially with the reproductive system. It would help them to think in a way that it will not lead them to be embarrassed or ashamed. As they get older, they get to be more acquired to sex education especially avoiding pre-marital sex. At an early age, we should be knowledgeable about the proper time of sex, in these practices we can avoid teenage pregnancy as well as abortion.

Another positive impact of impending sex education for elementary students is it will lessen and prevent the expansion of STD viruses such as HIV and AIDS. Based on (HIV Government), HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable with infections and diseases. It is because it attacks our body’s immune system. If HIV is left untreated, it can lead on what we call AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). AIDS is a late stage of HIV which affect our body’s immune system until it will be completely damaged. According to Rivera, the number of children infected with HIV is increasing dramatically in developing countries, the result of an increased number of HIV-infected women of childbearing age in these areas. If the children know about the negative effects of pre-marital sex, they will avoid those endeavors and these factors can positively or influence a person’s decision-making process just as much as his or her knowledge (or lack thereof) of which STDs are curable and which are not. 

Based on Barnett of (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health), “Sex education can help prevent the risk of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) by providing information to young people about reproductive issues and encouraging the consistent use of contraception or STD protection. “ According to Barnett, in India, 80% of 100 girls did not know that sexual intercourse can lead to pregnancy and STDs. Also, 90% of them did not know about contraceptives. See, those girls did not know the real meaning and proper time of sex because they are not educated about it. They are illiterate about STDs and pregnancy. Another one, according to Sandra, the 2009 Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this past November, said that young women ages 15 to 19 continue to have the highest rate of gonorrhea (568.8 cases per 100,000) and Chlamydia (3,269.5 cases per 100,000) compared to any other age or sex group. They added that “syphilis (also an STD virus) rates for both young men and women ages 15 to 19 continue to increase, with syphilis rates from 2005–2009 increasing as much as 167 percent among black males ages 15 to 19 years.” If the youth of the countries are receiving information about STDs, we will not see this disparity of viruses.

Being introduced to sex education can increase the curiosity of people who don't experience sex yet, mostly teenagers. As puberty hits us up, people get more adventurous and want to explore more things, especially those things that make them curious. In this case, they are introduced to contraceptives and other things that other people for sexual intercourse because they want to know how sex feels like. Some teenagers might use contraceptives just to experience this and they ended up in 'premarital sex'. Premarital sex is having unsafe sex that might lead someone, special girls to pregnancy or abortion. Actually, the purpose of sex education is to prevent teenage pregnancy and abortion, but as youth are involved with social media it promotes wrong understanding. According to Saha “Most countries, developed, and underdeveloped, consider teenage pregnancy a social stigma. And, it can have devastating effects on the teen’s social life”. Even though there is a contraceptive it is not hundred percent sure it is safe. Curiosity can lead to burdened life. There is no good effect in our life, it is just they just want to try it for pleasure and joy. Yes, sex might be natural to people and it's a part of our life that brings intimacy, pleasure, and joy. But having sex at an early age and with a lack of education is not good nor applicable because we are not ready for the outcome.

Sex education to elementary students may also open up their curiosity upon sex and might trigger them to try it. Too many young people receive confusing and conflicting information about relationships and sex that can lead them to bad decisions, as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. This has led to increasing demand from young people for reliable information, which prepares them for a safe, productive, and fulfilling. Willis explained that “curiosity coupled with the current lack of discipline (i.e. parents wanting to be buddies with their children) and parent inattention due to dual careers which leads to teens being home alone for long periods of time during the afternoon leads to sexual experimentation.” Empowering young people to make informed decisions about relationships and sexuality and navigate a world where gender-based violence, gender inequality, early and unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections still pose serious risks to their health and well-being. An absence of developmentally appropriate sexuality and relationship education may leave children and youngsters prone to harmful sexual behaviors and sexual exploitation. Young people have the right to steer healthy lives, and society has the responsibility to organize youth by providing them with comprehensive sexual health education that provides them the tools they need to make healthy decisions as they develop, we want them to take more and more control of their lives so that as they grow older, they will build necessary life choices on their own.

Therefore, we conclude that sex education should be implemented as a curriculum for elementary students for us to conquer the issues of pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, abortion, and STDs (HIV and AIDS). This is the only way to solve these legal issues. Try to look beyond the lines, children are the ones who is susceptible to these endeavors, so they need to be literate and knowledgeable about the proper time of making sexual intercourse. While they are still young, they need to be educated on how to be responsible and aware of themselves. Implementation of sex education can broaden the perspective of the people to choose the right path for a healthy future. And for the children to know that they need to wait for the proper time to make love, and just focus on their priorities to continue their journey in this life.