Tie James-Waddy, founder and CEO of Teens on the
Front Line, promotes sexual abstinence until marriage
by conducting Father / Daughter Purity Balls and Hosting
Retreats, seminars, camps and conferences. Despite the
fact that the majority of teens want to remain virgins until
marriage, 20 percent of students will have had at least four
sex partners before they graduate from high school.
Forty-three percent of youth in evangelical churches have
sex by the time they are 18.

Tie James- Waddy, founder and CEO of Teens on the Front Line, has been working with youth on the  issue of sexuality since 2006. She says she saw a need in the community and this is her way of giving back. She is an instructor for a program called W.A.I.T, Why Am I Tempted, to help teens resist the pressure to have sex at an early age.

“I believe in abstinence because it is the only 100 percent proof way of avoiding HIV, STDs and unwanted pregnancies,” said Waddy, who also became pregnant at 18-years-old.

But arguing for abstinence among professionals in areas of sex counseling and HIV prevention can be an uphill battle. Now, Waddy has help making her case.
A new study by Dr. John B. Jemmott III, University of Pennsylvania, shows that abstinence education significantly reduces the initiation of teen sex and is more effective than either comprehensive or safe sex programs. The study, sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, evaluated urban, over 600 urban, low income, African American middle school students, a population at high risk for pregnancy and STDs, including HIV.

The students participated in one of three different types of sex education programs: abstinence-centered, safe sex (condoms only), comprehensive (condom use and abstinence).
The study did not take a moral stand on sex or encourage students to wait for marriage. Instead, it encouraged students to come up with their own reasons for deferment.

After 24 months, teens who received the abstinence program were 33 percent less likely than the condom only group to have ever had intercourse. Infact, those receiving condom only training were more likely to have sex and to have it with multiple partners, than those who received some form of abstinence trainng.
Hailed by some as a groundbreaking study, the findings confirmed that abstinence education is effective among urban youth, high-risk teens.
Another key finding in the study is that abstinence education does not reduce condom use among teens who do have sex, refuting a claim commonly made by opponents of abstinence education.

Waddy says she is not at all surprised by the results of the study. “These findings are consistent with the positive results we’ve seen at Teens on the Front Line.” In independent research, Teens on the Front Line programs have been proven to reduce teen sex by 47 percent. However, Waddy acknowledged that this new study is particularly exciting, noting, “This new study will convince even the harshest of critics that abstinence education works, is more effective than other approaches, and must be provided to help ensure the health of our children.