Teen pregnancy became an epidemic in the United States alone. The United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the industrialized world. Every year, one in three teenagers becomes pregnant. Although teen pregnancy rates fell from 61.8 births per 1,000 in 1991 to 41.7 births per 1,000 in 2003, pregnancy rates in the United States are still declining at slower rates than those in the United States. other developed countries (Block et al., 2005. para, 1). . - These sobering statistics are the basis of an ongoing battle: the fight for abstinence only versus comprehensive sex education. Although proponents of both types of sex education aim to reduce teen pregnancy and STIs, their approaches vary widely (Block et al., 2005). Abstinence-only proponents believe that premarital sex is immoral and harmful; they advocate abstinence as the only option to help young people avoid STIs and teenage pregnancies, mentioning condoms and contraceptives only in terms of failure rates (Block et al., 2005). Abstinence advocates believe that “Americans do not suffer from a lack of knowledge about sex but from an absence of values” (Block et al., 2005). Although comprehensive sex education programs have had greater success in delaying the age of sexual initiation and reducing teenage pregnancies, abstinence-only programs have benefited from growing political support and federal funding over the past twenty years (Block et al, 2005). According to Debra Viadero (2010), “researchers note that progress in reducing teen pregnancy rates has begun to stall. at the same time that sex education programs began to focus on teaching abstinence as the only means of birth control and adolescent use of contraceptives...... middle of article ......2003). Relationship Education Program (PARE): A program for the prevention of STDs and pregnancy among middle school youth, 29(1), 33-41. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Kantor, L.M. (2008). right to health information. Human Rights Journal of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, 35(3), 1-4. Taken from EBSCOhost. Yampolskaya, S., Brown EC and Vargo AC (2004). Evaluation of adolescent pregnancy prevention interventions among middle school youth. Journal of Child and Adolescent Social Work, 21(1), 69-83. Taken from EBSCOhost. Viadero, D. (2010). Study finds teen pregnancies are on the rise. Education Weekly, 29(20), 4. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.MTV Networks. (2011). Teenage mom. Retrieved April 22, 2011 from http://www.mtv.com/shows/teen_mom/season_2/series.jhtml