abstinence only

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English

Noun

abstinence only (uncountable)

  1. A form of sex education that advocates only abstinence as a means to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
    • 2002, Marysol Asencio, Sex and Sexuality Among New York's Puerto Rican Youth, page 149:
      Programs have been developed that either advocate abstinence only […] or abstinence-plus […].
    • 2002, Larry D. Burlew, Dave Capuzzi, Sexuality Counseling, page 75:
      Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas specify the teaching of abstinence only until marriage.
    • 2003, Judith Levine, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, page 101:
      Not only was the federal government encouraging abstinence only; […].
    • 2006, David Cooper, Broken America, page 182:
      […] directly to organizations that teach abstinence only without going through the states.