Abstinence-Only Education is also referred to as “Sexual Risk Avoidance. The framework is that it teaches that abstinence is the expected standard of behavior for teens. However in Southeast Asia, child marriage, early unions, and teen pregnancy continue to rise in some countries and are not falling rapidly enough in others. “A disturbing number of young girls are becoming pregnant without having had control of their pregnancy, without any future plan or failing to even keep their partner long term-(single teen moms).
However, where the law itself permits sex at a very early age and when parents teach safe sex to their children when they are around 12 does “Abstinence-Only Education” has any role to play? According to UNICEF highest adolescent birth rates at the country, the level is seen in Lao PDR (94), Cambodia (57), Thailand (50), Indonesia (48), and the Philippines (47) Hence the question above.