STD among teens

A newly released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study indicates that more than 3 million teen girls aged 14- to 19-years-old have an STD -- the Human Papilloma Virus being the most common infection. The study found the highest prevalence rate was among black girls – nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD, compared with 20 percent of white and Mexican-American teens. Among sexually active teens, the rate was 40 percent.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), says bad public policy is to blame for the STD epidemic. "The funding of graphic sex-ed that encourages kids to be sexually active is a serious problem," She maintains. "We also have the FDA's decision to allow the morning after pill to be available without a prescription."

Wright says that decision is keeping many women from getting regular screening for STDs.  "...women are not going to their doctor's to get screened for sexually transmitted diseases," she clarifies. "Instead they're able to go to a local pharmacy and pick up a drug that is actually not that effective – even at preventing pregnancy."

The CWA spokeswoman says the CDC study shows there is also a need to reach out to the African-American community "with good public health policies to insure that they are being given full information as to the risks of indiscriminate sexual activity, and the help that is available incase they find themselves with the consequences that come from indiscriminate sexual activity."

Wright says the government should stop funding sex-ed programs that encourage teen sexual activity and the FDA ought to require that the morning-after pill only be obtained after a medical exam "for the woman's own good." 

The results of the STD study were released at a CDC conference in Chicago that – according to pro-family groups – promotes a negative view of abstinence-only education.