Teens’ sexual behaviors have a big connection to their overall health, a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found.
The CDC study, which examined students in grades 9 to 12 based on their sexual behavior, found that students who did not have sex exhibited more healthy behaviors than those who had sex. In addition, sexually active teens who had contact with both sexes or the same sex reported the least healthy behaviors among the teens in the study.
The researchers asked both public and private school students questions about their sexual behavior as well as health-related issues, including seat belt use, texting and eating habits, drug and alcohol use, sexual abuse, depression and suicidal thoughts/attempts.
The study found that 48 percent of students had sexual contact with the opposite sex only, 1.7 percent had sexual contact with the same sex only, and 4.6 percent had sexual contact with both sexes. According to the study, 45.7 percent of students said they never had sexual contact.
“… across the 18 violence-related risk behaviors nationwide, the prevalence of all 18 was higher among students who had sexual contact with only the opposite sex and students who had sexual contact with only the same sex or with both sexes than students who had no sexual contact,” according to the study.
The researchers found similar results on questions about tobacco, drug and alcohol use.
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Glenn T. Stanton, director of global family formation studies at Focus on the Family, broke down the findings in an article for The Federalist:
Seat Belt Use: Opposite-sex-active (OSA) teens are 143 percent more likely to never or rarely wear a seat belt than virginal peers. Same-sex/bisexual-active (SS/BA) teens are 317 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Dating Violence: OSA teens are 260 percent more likely to experience some form of physical violence in dating relationships than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 683 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Smokes Daily: OSA teens are 3,300 percent more likely to smoke daily than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 9,500 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Ever Binge Drank: OSA teens are 337 percent more likely to ever binge drink than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 375 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Pot Use: OSA teens are 336 percent more likely to be currently using marijuana than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 483 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Ever Injected an Illegal Drug: OSA teens are 500 percent more likely to have ever injected a non-prescription drug than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 2,333 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Tanning Beds: OSA teens are 282 percent more likely to use indoor tanning beds than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 364 percent more likely than virginal peers.
Eat Breakfast Daily: OSA teens are 24 percent less likely to eat breakfast daily than virginal peers. SS/BA teens are 48 percent less likely than virginal peers.
These are just some of the researchers’ findings. In every category, abstinent students reported more healthy behaviors than their sexually active peers. (The study did not examine the most common risks of sexual behavior: pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases/infections.)
Time after time, research has pointed to abstinence and monogamy as the most healthy option for teens and adults alike. Yet, abstinence education programs continue to be mocked and ridiculed by abortion activists and others.
As Stanton concluded: “The sexual choices and values our young people hold have real-life consequences far beyond sexuality itself. Thus, there are indeed compelling reasons to encourage teens to choose not to be sexually engaged with peers of the opposite or same-sex.”
Planned Parenthood publicly fights against abstinence education and pushes its own school curriculum. The abortion chain has been caught multiple times encouraging students to engage in risky sexual behavior.
In 2014, Live Action release a video of Planned Parenthood employees telling young girls that “stop,” really doesn’t always mean “stop” during sex, and encouraging young teen females to participate in sado-masochistic sexual activities, including gagging, whipping, asphyxiation, shopping at sex stores, and viewing pornography.
LifeNews also reported that Planned Parenthood’s booklet for HIV-positive youth, “Healthy, Happy and Hot,” tells young people that it is their “human right” to not tell their partner that they have HIV.
In 2014, LifeNews reported that Hawaii state Rep. Bob McDermott tried to get copies of Planned Parenthood’s sex education curriculum after hearing complaints from parents about what was being taught in Hawaii public schools. The state department of education denied his request, saying “the curriculum is sensitive in nature and can be misinterpreted.”
Many pro-lifers believe Planned Parenthood uses its sex education programs to gain students’ trust and promote promiscuous behavior, and then sell more abortions when they become pregnant.
