Some encouraging news for those concerned about sexual education in America. The following is an excerpt from an interview of the president of Ascend (an abstinence education organization) by John Rustin, who works for the North Carolina Family Policy Council:
JOHN RUSTIN: Valerie, I know the last time we had you on the program a few months ago, we talked about the decline in teen sexual activity that we’ve been seeing in recent years. But a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, shows an even steeper decline. Tell us about the CDC’s latest findings regarding teen sexual activity and what makes these findings so significant?
VALERIE HUBER: Well, the last time we chatted, we looked at the same data from 1991 through 2013, and at that time there’d been about a 16 percent drop in the percentage of teens who had ever had sex, which is really a great improvement. Just a two years difference now looking at 1991 thru 2015, there is now a 28 percent change. That means, from 1991 when things were just beginning to be a culture where it was normalizing teen sex, to now where everything it seems is promoting casual sex at younger and younger ages, we’re seeing fewer teens actually having sex. Astounding, but very good news.
