Pam Stenzel brings safe sex message to the Midwest

Pam Stenzel, a sexual health educator, recently brought her teenager-focused campaign, Sex Still Has a Price Tag, to Nebraska and Kansas, speaking to a young audience about the importance of responsible choices. Before launching her initiative, Stenzel was the director of the Alpha Women's Center in Minnesota, and counseled female patients about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

During the event, she touched on several topics she often came across while working at the center, including a lack of knowledge about common STDs, according to the McCook Daily Gazette. Stenzel's list included chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, HIV and syphilis, and she also explained the risk of infertility caused by these STDs.

In fact, chlamydia is the most common among teens and young adults, as approximately 670,000 cases were reported among men aged 15 to 24 years in 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stenzel also discussed abstinence as another method of avoiding the consequences associated with sex, the news source reports. She stressed the option of saving sexual intercourse for marriage, and explained the meanings of certain Bible passages that reference sex.

Young people who have sex could be putting themselves and their partners at a higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.Individuals who are concerned about their health, but are uncomfortable with going to an STD clinic, can benefit from purchasing online testing services.