1 in 4 teenage girls have an STD, report says

Photo courtesy of Flickr user greenmelinda

Now that's a fact that's hard to chew on: One out of every four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. When 25% of any group is effected by preventable disease, it's time to re-examine what's been done to prevent this from happening.

Are there enough sexual education classes available? And I'm not talking about the "sex before marriage is immoral and will get you pregnant so you had better abstain" stump speech. I mean real heart to heart "these are the facts" talks about the risks of sexual intercourse and how individuals can protect themselves.

Are condoms readily available to teenage students? Whenever the media comes out with a story about a certain school issuing condoms out to its students there is always a public outcry about the morality of our youth and how its being corrupted with stunts like this. Many people believe that the simple act of passing out a condom condones and even promotes sexual promiscuity among teenagers.

Come on people, wake up! As teenagers once ourselves we all know that any obstacles put in our way of engaging in sexual activity were just that: obstacles, not deterrents. We always found the opportunity behind a movie theater, at our partner's house while parents were away, etc. Today's teenagers are no different. Teenage sex is going to happen regardless of our wishes and instructions to our children, so common sense should dictate that we as a society should prefer it to be in a safe environment with safety precautions taken such as using a condom.

As a citizen of the United States of America the fact that 1 out of 4 teenage girls have a sexually transmitted disease is as appalling as it is shocking. With the access and reach we have with education and the resources to distribute STD preventing contraceptives such as condoms, there is no way this number should be that high.

Either we're not doing enough or we're not teaching the right message. The re-examination of what we are doing to prevent sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers needs to begin now.