Saying that simple little word, “NO” can be really hard; especially when your friends are having sex and a person you really like is trying to get with you. It doesn’t help when everyday you’re seeing sex, sex, sex in movies, magazines, TV and listening to it on the radio. All of that sexual pressure could get you to believe that everybody’s doing it – but they aren’t!!

50% of kids between the ages of 12 and 18 are choosing NOT to have sex. They believe that in making that choice, they are just plain smart. They are taking the short time pain (of having to say “NO” to friends, boyfriends and girlfriends they want to keep) for the long time gain (of not becoming pregnant, getting a sexually spread disease, and not facing the emotional problems of guilt, regret, and heartbreak that some of the teens who didn’t choose abstinence wind up with).

Here are a few ways you might say “NO”:

1) No, thanks, there’s probably a good reason why they say you have to be older to have sex so I think I’ll just wait.
2) No; I’m not into taking chances that could ruin my life.
3) The only kind of safe sex I know about is virginity. If that wasn’t true why are there so many unwanted teenage pregnancies?
4) Let me say it to you in poetry: “A hug or a kiss would be OK; but going any further – NO WAY!”
5) No thanks. The last time my mom caught me making out she grounded me for three months
6) If I wanted to have sex, I wouldn’t waste it on someone who pressured me into it.