Unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a serious public health problem in the United States. Each year, about one million teenage girls in the U. S. have unintended pregnancies, and nearly half of these pregnancies end in abortion. There are an estimated 15 million new cases of STDs reported each year. These two problems alone account for the expenditure of 24 to 32 billion dollars annually. About 900,000 people in the U.S. are now infected with HIV. The vast majority were infected through unsafe sexual practices.
Safe Sex
The only method of complete protection from STDs or an unwanted pregnancy is abstinence. A growing number of young people today are choosing to abstain from sex until they choose their marital partner. A monogamous sexual relationship (both partners completely faithful to one another) is also a fairly certain way to prevent STDs and exposure to AIDS. If one or both partners are exposed to multiple sexual partners, then condoms should be used to prevent STDs and HIV infection.
Currently, 85 percent of adolescents either abstain from sexual activity or use condoms. The goal is to reach 100 percent. About half of all new HIV infections in the U. S. are in young adults under the age of 25. HIV is the leading cause of death for young African American men ages 24 to 44 years.
Safe sex practices could nearly eliminate HIV/AIDS. In addition, safe sexual practices would reduce the more than one million unwanted pregnancies among teenage girls and 15 million new cases of other STDs each year. |
