Concern over how teenage sexuality is discussed in schools brought a group of Salt Lake residents together this past week in the fourth of Mayor Rocky Anderson's Freedom Forums.

"These are incredibly important issues that many people are reluctant to talk about," Anderson said. "There is a consensus that these are serious problems that face our young people. In some instances these are cases of life and death."

But there is not consensus, Anderson noted, on how issues like teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases should be discussed in schools. Utah schools currently provide an abstinence-based approach to sexuality as part its health education curriculum.

Emily Johnson, a senior at Highland High school, said that emphasis on abstinence is not enough to protect teenagers from STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Gearing the lessons towards not having sex simply alienates sexually active students and "encourages the taboo and censorship of subjects that ought to be discussed openly."

Rather, Johnson noted, information about how to use contraceptives like condoms and birth control pills should be openly discussed and available to all students.

"Many teens are engaged in sexual activities and are feeling the negative ramifications because of the lack of information," she said. "It's foolish to think every teen is receiving adequate information on this subject at home."

But Josh Christensen, a junior at Highland, said pushing contraceptive use may only give students implicit approval to have sex. Abstinence, he said, is the simplest rule to follow and relieves teenagers of the responsibility of using contraceptives.

"If you teach kids how to have sex with these contraceptives, they will have it," Christensen said. "Kids need to hear from adults — especially parents — that they are opposed to their children having sex."

Nancy Anderson, a director with a Utah Department of Health sexual education program, said she focuses her instruction on abstinence because it's the only sure way to prevent the proliferation of STDs she said are "running rampant."

"It's very scary out there. I would like to take all kids ages 13-18 and put them them in a barrel and feed them through a hole," Anderson said.

But Anderson's abstinence approach met with resistance as several audience members questioned the wisdom of enforcing values through the public school system.

Karrie Galloway, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Utah, said using "scare tactics" is not going to work to help solve the problem of disease and teenage motherhood. Instead, teachers and parents need to arm teenagers with information.

"Abstinence is important , but unrealistic if it is the only thing taught," she said. "As adults argue about teen sex, teens are making decisions."

Galloway said research done by her group has shown absolutist approaches like an increasingly popular "virgin pledge" are ineffective, often returning higher rates of sexual activity.

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