Today I was struggling to come up with something to blog about. I feel as though I should blog more, but I haven't done anything too interesting to talk about! Yesterday I did have a friend come over for a puppy playdate, that was fun. :) Anyway, otherwise life is going as normal and I'm writing a lot.

I actually wanted to talk about something political. Just maybe my opinion on it. I want to speak about abstinence-only education and how it is linked to the rise in teen pregnancy. You can find some information here.

Here's my view: Teenagers are going to have sex. There is no way to prevent this, other than locking them up (and then when they get out, they'll just go do it!). This doesn't mean all teenagers will have sex, not by any means. I'm just saying that many teenagers will have sex. They know what it is and they know how it works and they're in a rebellious, hormone-filled stage where anything goes.

The problem with abstinence-only education is that it isn't helping the teenagers that are having sex. That sex education teaches one thing only: You shouldn't have sex. That isn't effective for the ones who are already having sex. Those teenagers aren't getting the information on contraceptives and STD's and it's leading to a rise in pregnancies and abortions.

I agree that it is partly the responsibility of the parent to teach their children about the risks of having sex. And I agree that abstinence and the power of the word "No" should be taught in sex education as well. But I think that teenagers today should be learning about all the different forms of contraceptives that are available to them, and where to get them. They should be taught that sex is ok and a natural thing, but they shouldn't risk their futures by engaging in unprotected sex.

Abstinence-only sex education hasn't helped teenagers at all and hasn't helped the problem of teenage pregnancies. We need to take a step back and examine how we're doing things and change the programs so they benefit our children.