$3 million U.S. grant to promote abstinence

The Weber-Morgan Health Department has received a $3 million federal grant to implement an abstinence education program over the next five years.

Between 2002 and 2004, about 9 percent of downtown Ogden girls between the ages of 15 and 19 gave birth to a child. Across the rest of the state, the same age group had a birth rate of 3.4 percent. And nationally, the birth rate for girls the same age was 4.1 percent.

"Unwanted teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases can have devastating and long-term consequences on a young woman's life and for her partner and baby," said Gary House, the health department's executive director. "The federal grant represents a golden opportunity for our community to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy and STDs through abstinence education and public awareness."

The grant will pay for instructors to teach abstinence in grades 6-12 in schools that would like to participate. Students will learn about contraceptives, but the curriculum does not advocate or demonstrate contraceptive use, according to a news release from the health department.

The goal of abstinence education is to help teens understand that abstinence is best for their health and future, the release states.