By AFA Journal
November 30, 2006

(AgapePress) - A new study reveals that abstinence-only programs can be effective in reducing teen sex and in delaying their "sexual debuts" without discouraging the use of condoms during future encounters.

The study, under the leadership of author John Jemmott of the University of Pennsylvania, involved 662 African-American students from inner-city middle schools in Philadelphia. Ranging in age from 10 to 15, the participants and their actions led to the following conclusion: Those who received abstinence-only teaching were less likely to have had sex at a 24-month follow-up evaluation, as compared to other students who were exposed to "safer sex" teaching and condom use without a mention of abstinence.

The findings conflict with former President Bill Clinton's comments about how abstinence programs make teens less inclined to use condoms.

"It did not reduce intentions to use condoms, it did not reduce beliefs about the efficiency of condoms, it did not decrease consistent condom use and it did not decrease condom use at last sexual [encounter]," Jemmott explained. "There aren't any studies that show that children are less likely to use condoms as a result of an abstinence intervention."

However, the foes of abstinence-only education still contend there is harm in the prevention strategy. For example, according to Planned Parenthood, the world's leading abortion provider, abstinence-only programs are "one of the religious right's greatest challenges to the nation's sexual health."

But Jemmott argued that there is no logical reason why abstinence-only education would not be effective in reducing sexual activity among teens.