Abstinence Tips

Questions & Answers

Recommitting to Abstinence

STI/STD Facts

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Teen Pulse: Questions & Answers

1. If we love each other, why should we not have sex?

Love means wanting what is best for the other person now and in the future. Is it really possible to love someone and be willing to gamble with his/her health, life, happiness, and future welfare? If it is real love, it can wait.

2. Can you physically tell if someone has an STI/STD?

No, there is no particular look to someone with an STI/STD. Being infected with an STI/STD is not based on race, gender, or status. Many people have STIs/STDs and don't even know it.

3. Why not sleep or live together if you know you are going to get married?

Feeling in love or even planning to get married may create a sense of intimacy, or even commitment. However, such relationships can be fairly easily dissolved and can never offer the security and portection of marriage. Even if the engagement does end in marriage, there is a 50% higher rate of divorce among couples who live together prior to marriage.1

4. How far can you go with the opposite sex?

A good minimum guideline is to declare everything covered by a bathing suit as off-limits. Everyone needs to know his or her boundaries before getting in a risky situation. Once someone is excited physically, it can be difficult to stop.

5. Can you get pregnant the first time you have sex?

Yes, a young woman can get pregnant before she even has started her menstrual cycle because ovulation (the process in which the ovum (egg) drops down to possibly be fertilized) takes place prior to the first period.