Sex Education, Abstinence-Only

Abstinence-only sex education promotes sexual activity in the context of marriage. In the United States, this form of sexuality education became commonplace in the mid-1990s, after President Bill Clinton signed the Welfare Reform Law that provided federal funding for states agreeing to promote abstinence-only curricula. State support for this form of sex education has decreased somewhat since 1999.

Abstinence-only sex education is controversial; critics believe that abstinence-only sex education is shortsighted and fails to properly educate schoolchildren. Proponents of abstinence-only sex education assert that students should be discouraged from engaging in sexual intercourse before marriage.

Sex education refers to a disbursal of sexuality related information to a select audience. In the United States, elementary and secondary schools are the most common providers of formal sexual education. The ...