Speaking to or teaching teenagers about sex is a continuing controversy. Statistics from the Guttmacher Institute show that nearly half of U.S. teenagers between the ages of 15-19 have had sex. There has always been a debate on the curriculum of sex education. Some people believe that abstinence only education is the only kind of education that should be taught in U.S. public schools, while others believe in the need to teach comprehensive sex education. Statistics show that teenagers do have sex, are contracting STDs, and are getting pregnant.

Although many U.S. states disagree with teaching abstinence only sex education, the government has funded over a billion dollars to schools over the past ten years that have taught an abstinence only curriculum. The Grand Rapids Press affirmed, in 2008 the Bush administration gave $ 200 million to schools in the U.S. for abstinence only curriculums. In the United States, we are divided on our opinion of sex education. Sharyl Attkisson from CBS News reported in 14 states both abstinence and contraception are taught, in 19 states only teaching abstinence is required and in 17 states the state does not specify on which sex education curriculum to teach. “The National Abstinence Education Association argues that comprehensive sex education in schools doesn’t reduce the number of teens having sex”, reported in the Grand Rapids Press. But contrary to the National Abstinence Education Association a study by The Mathematica Policy Research study found that students who had received abstinence only education showed the same propensity toward having sex as students who had not been taught an abstinence only curriculum.

Health officials are very concerned with the number of teenagers contracting sexually transmitted diseases. In the United States over 3 million teenage girls ages 14 to 19 have an STD. In a study done by the Center