Jackson Free Press

For so long, Mississippi's public officials, and its community and school district leaders have shied away from talking about sex to avoid the potential political consequences. Last week however, the Women's Fund of Mississippi began advocating for school districts and parents to teach children comprehensive sex education. The Women's Fund is a nonprofit, without any political affiliation, and depends on donors to survive. Instead of tiptoeing around the issue and trying to appease their supporters, the nonprofit issued a report last week stating that teen births cost the state $155 million a year.

It's a well-known fact that Mississippi has the highest teen birth rate in the nation, at nearly 64.1 births per 1,000 women under the age of 20. We have the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea—sexually transmitted diseases. Thirty-nine percent of new AIDS cases in Mississippi are in young people under age 35. In 2009, a total of 7,078 infants were born to women under the age of 20.

The Women's Fund is calling for a holistic approach to tackling teen pregnancy, instead of just focusing on one solution. The fund's strategy involves mentorships, youth employment opportunities and access to medical professionals in addition to comprehensive sex education in schools.

Mississippi has a lot of work to do to change our teen birth rate. Abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction has long been the standard for the state, and it's not easy to change an entire culture's attitude. But once we begin to look at the costs and see that we are shortchanging our future generations, it should become clear that we need a new approach.

The outdated abstinence-only-until-marriage mantra is becoming less and less relevant as younger generations are delaying marriage. In 2010, married couples represented just 45 percent of Mississippi households, a decrease from 49.7 percent in 2000. Americans are delaying marriage until later in life: 43 percent of white women ages 25 to 29 have never married, compared to 71 percent of black women ages 25 to 29 who have never married. The average age for marriage is now 28 for men and 26 for women, and the reality is that few people will put off sex until then.

The state took a tiny step forward last March when Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill that requires school districts to adopt either an abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex education policy. School boards have until June 30, 2012, to adopt a policy and they must implement it in the 2012-2013 curriculum. But the bill presents challenges. Neither policy allows teaching students how to use condoms, leaving that up to the kids to learn by trial and error. The bill also requires districts to separate boys from girls for their instruction, which can cause scheduling conflicts and be burdensome for districts with few resources.

We hope that more advocacy organizations and leaders will get out in front of this most serious issue and stop being afraid to say S-E-X. It's about time we faced reality when it comes to teen pregnancy and avoiding STDs.