Lessons Learned: Why “Safe Sex” Messaging Failed
For decades, public health campaigns promoted “safe sex” as the key to preventing sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies, and state and federal officials spent millions of dollars teaching comprehensive sex education to students. But evidence shows that despite the massive investment, STD rates and teen pregnancy rates have remained high.
After his election in 2008, President Obama’s administration gave Planned Parenthood millions of dollars in funding for comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention programs.
Experts later found students who went through Planned Parenthood’s sex education programs were often more likely to become pregnant or cause a pregnancy.
In other words, Planned Parenthood’s multimillion-dollar sex education program did exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do.
In 2016, researchers evaluating similar Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs around the country found the programs did not really change students’ behavior, writing:
Many of the [Teen Pregnancy Prevention program] evaluations saw positive impacts on measures such as knowledge and attitudes; however, these findings did not translate into positive behavioral changes.
In 2016 — while President Obama was still in office — the CDC released a 208-page report concluding teenagers who practiced abstinence were healthier in nearly every way than teenagers who were sexually active.
The CDC’s report looked at everything from seatbelt and bike helmet use to substance abuse, diet, exercise, and even tanning bed use.
Their conclusion was that sexually active teens were less healthy and engaged in riskier behavior across the board.
The Christian alternative to comprehensive sex education is a virtue‑based paradigm rooted in Scripture: “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18) and “Let marriage be held in honor among all” (Hebrews 13:4).
Purity and faithfulness are not fringe ideas but biblical truths that protect body, mind, soul, and community. That is a message that endures where education and messaging fail.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
