M. Joycelyn Elders

In the following viewpoint, former U.S. surgeon general M. Joycelyn Elders maintains that sexual education programs promoting abstinence fail to recognize that most teenagers are having sex and therefore need protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The refusal to educate teens about condoms, she claims, places teenagers at a serious risk of contracting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to statistics cited by Elders, how many children and youths died of AIDS in 1996"

2. In Elders’s opinion, why is abstinence a “highly risky philosophy”"

3. According to the author, why do European teenagers have lower rates of sexually transmitted diseases than teens in the United States"

These days we confuse ignorance with innocence. Many adults believe...