Recently, I have realized an issue in the public education system. I actually found that if we fixed some of those problems, there would be a solution to the concept that many people find to be a problem: abortions.
Having attended a private middle school, our sexual education did not stem past explaining what a period is and what products I can use to keep myself clean. In fact, when people in our class asked about the process of the sperm and the egg forming a zygote, the response we were given was, "That's through a process called sex that we won't talk about right now". Right now would be the operative phrase in that statement because around eight years later, I was still never properly informed about the process of sex. In addition to this, many public school students are taught that abstinence is the only way to protect yourself, while still never being informed of what sex is.
Sex is commonly treated like a large taboo subject in our society, which disguises the reality of the situation that if someone wants to do something; they will find a way to do it. Teaching kids and teens that the only way to be safe is to not do it puts them directly into harm's way due to their lack of information about protection. Not only is society only taught about condoms and birth control as they grow older, but any other forms of contraception are geared towards women. Women are not solely responsible for being safe and preventing pregnancy during sex, but, since we as a society have created this idea that women are responsible for many issues, there are considerably less options for men as opposed to women. Not only are there flaws with this process, but there is also the flaw of only teaching people about heterosexual interactions.
The lack of education regarding homosexual-intercourse is alarming. Everyone, regardless of their sexuality or gender, should be informed of ways to practice safe sex and prevent the spread of STDs and accidental pregnancies. Not knowing this valuable information because it makes a teacher uncomfortable is extremely dangerous and detrimental to our society as a whole.
So what, exactly, does our lack of sex education have to do with abortions? It's simple really: if you educate someone about how to prevent a problem, eight times out of ten the problem will decrease considerably. No one can expect a child to keep themselves safe if you never teach them what they should do to stay safe. Therefore, if you wish to prevent the ending of accidental or unwanted pregnancies, the proper course of action would be providing the education needed to prevent the pregnancies in the first place.
