Teens attending the 13th annual Ryan White National Youth Conference on HIV & AIDS say sexual activity is common among their peers, but warn that many high schools across the country are failing to inform students how to protect themselves. Pass Christian, Miss., 15-year-old Ari Sutton told the Philadelphia Inquirer 'most everyone' at her high school is sexually active, but says the school is 'not open to talking about sex.'
'We have health [class],' she says, 'and when we get to the topic, the teachers don't hit on it, only abstinence. Obviously it is not working, and they have been doing it the same way forever.'
Schools also aren't doing enough to educate teens on how to avoid pregnancy, Judy Gawlinksi of Union City, Pa., High School told the Inquirer. At her school, 23 of the 100 graduating seniors in 2003 were pregnant, she says.
