The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

For many sexually-active young people, the fear of becoming pregnant or getting HIV/AIDS is a major emotional stress.

Russell Henke, health education coordinator in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools, says, “I see kids going to the nurses in schools, crying a day after their first sexual experience, and wanting to be tested for AIDS. They have done it, and now they are terrified. For some of them, that’s enough. They say, ‘I don’t want to have to go through that experience anymore.’”

A high school girl told a nurse: “I see some of my friends buying home pregnancy tests, and they are so worried and so distracted every month, afraid they might be pregnant. It’s a relief to me to be a virgin.”