Why Abstinence?
- 900,000
teenage women between 15 and 19 years of age become
pregnant.(1)
- For
each day in 2001 in Alabama there were 24.6 live births
to teenage women.
- Teens
acquire 20-25% of all STDs while they comprise only
10% of the population
- Almost
one in four of the 15 million cases of STDs which infect
Americans will be contracted by teens.
- Teenage
pregnancy is on the decline and abstinence education
accounts for approximately 25% of this decline.(1)
Despite
the decreasing teen pregnancy rates, too many teenage
women are still becoming pregnant with three quarters
of those pregnancies classified as unintended. Worse
still, approximately one quarter of all teenage pregnancies
end in abortion.(1) Abstinence Education
Abstinence
education services provided by Central Alabama Opportunities
Industrialization Center, Inc. (OIC) equip youth with
the skills necessary to "say no" to sex
by focusing on three key areas of education:
- Goals
Identification
- Communication
Skills
- Accurate
information about sex, adolescent sexual development,
STDs and positive self-esteem.
Values-based
Curriculum
The curriculum for
the OIC Abstinence Education Program has been developed
by Families United to Prevent Teen Pregnancies
(FUPTP).
FUPTP is based on
the premise that by promoting primary prevention activities
that promote abstinence and a life options approach, FUPTP
will reduce the incidence of pregnancy among and improve
life opportunities for participating at-risk youth. One
of the best ways to lower the teen pregnancy rate is to
provide programming for youth that not only educates,
but that allows youth to form positive peer groups.
Abstinence
Participating Sites
- Central
Alabama OIC
- Montgomery
C.I.T.Y. Program
- St.
Jude Education Institute
- William
"Kid" Franklin Boys & Girls
- Future
Sites: Jackson Chapel AME, Kershaw YMCA, Montgomery
County (Alabama) Juvenile Family Court.
Goals
and Objectives of the
OIC Abstinence Education Program
- To reduce
the number of adolescents who will engage in premarital
sexual activity.
- To reduce
the incidence of out of wedlock pregnancies among adolescents.
- To reduce
the number of STD infections among adolescents.
For more
information about the Central Alabama OIC Abstinence Education
Program please contact Sylvia Harper at (334) 265-1594
or via email at
success@centralalabamaoic.com
.
(1) "U.S.
Teenage Pregnancy Statistics", The Guttmacher Institute, Sept.
2006 |
