Comprehensive Sex Education | Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education |
Teaches that sexuality is a natural, normal, healthy part of life | Teaches that sexual expression outside of marriage will have harmful social, psychological, and physical consequences |
Teaches that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective method of preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV | Teaches that abstinence from sexual intercourse before marriage is the only acceptable behavior |
Provides values-based education and offers students the opportunity to explore and define their individual values as well as the values of their families and communities | Teaches only one set of values as morally correct for all students |
Includes a wide variety of sexuality related topics, such as human development, relationships, interpersonal skills, sexual expression, sexual health, and society and culture | Limits topics to abstinence-only-until-marriage and to the negative consequences of pre-marital sexual activity |
Includes accurate, factual information on abortion, masturbation, and sexual orientation | Usually omits controversial topics such as abortion, masturbation,
and sexual orientation |
Provides positive messages about sexuality and sexual expression, including the benefits of abstinence | Often uses fear tactics to promote abstinence and to limit sexual expression |
Teaches that proper use of latex condoms, along with water-based lubricants, can greatly reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of unintended pregnancy and of infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including HIV | Discusses condoms only in terms of failure rates; often exaggerates condom failure rates |
Teaches that consistent use of modern methods of contraception can greatly reduce a couple's risk for unintended pregnancy | Provides no information on forms of contraception other than failure rates of condoms |
Includes accurate medical information about STDs, including HIV; teaches that individuals can avoid STDs | Often includes inaccurate medical information and exaggerated statistics regarding STDs, including HIV; suggests that STDs are an inevitable result of premarital sexual behavior |
Teaches that religious values can play an important role in an individual's decisions about sexual expression; offers students the opportunity to explore their own and their family's religious values | Often promotes specific religious values |
Teaches that a woman faced with an unintended pregnancy has options: carrying the pregnancy to term and raising the baby, or carrying the pregnancy to term and placing the baby for adoption, or ending the pregnancy with an abortion | Teaches that carrying the pregnancy to term and placing the baby for adoption is the only morally correct option for pregnant teens |
