For Casey Taubitz, the only reference to contraception during her high school health education class was a brusque "just use a condom."
Taubitz, who graduated in 2004 from Fenton High School, said the curriculum at her school was abstinence-based - similar to programs President Bush would like to see more school districts utilize.
In his 2004 State of the Union address, Bush added federal funding for abstinence-only sex education programs, expressing a desire to double the current amount.
While Taubitz, an incoming theater freshman, is not sexually active, she said the abstinence lectures have had a limited affect on her views about sex in reality.
"I think abstinence is good but if you're in a relationship long-term it's OK to think about (sex)," Taubitz said. "Sex doesn't have to be a bad thing."
More recently, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed a bill supporting an emphasis on abstinence in the classroom, but allowing information about contraceptives to be given.
"We worked on the legislation and we feel that the final bill strikes a nice balance," Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.
Christopher Pratt, Ingham County's Adolescent Health Education program coordinator, has been developing programs that encourage students to abstain from sex.
"In everything that we do, we focus on abstinence as the only 100 percent-effective guarantee against disease and pregnancy," he said.
But Olin health educator Dennis Martell said abstinence should not be the primary focus of educators and parents.
"Abstinence-only programs fail, abstinence-based programs sometimes work," Martell said. "If you take 100 people who choose abstinence, only 70 people will make it. I truly support the concept but you better have the resources to support it."
Martell said he was disappointed by Bush's idea for abstinence-only programs, which are currently under consideration in conjunction with the revision of the 1996 Welfare Law.
"The parties need to get together and discuss what is best for America, which is to produce students and adults that are knowledgeable about what they are involved with," Martell said. "We need a public that is educated - not a public that is always told what and what not to do."
Refraining from sex can be a personal and moral choice cultivated by religion or values.
"I'm a virgin; I don't want to have sex until I get married," said Corinne Copeland, an incoming no-preference freshman from Detroit.
"I've been taught that's what's right."
The Lansing-based Michigan Family Forum promotes abstinence as ensuring healthy relationships between parents and children as well as significant others.
"Those types of relationships prior to marriage tend to bring baggage and that's bad," said Dan Jarvis, the research and policy director with Michigan Family Forum, referring to sexual relationships.
Yet Martell claims for many, waiting until marriage is becoming less of an option.
Martell said from the 1930s to the 1960s, many people only waited two to four years between the sexual maturation of their bodies and the time they were married.
Now bodies develop earlier and people are married later, increasing the average waiting period to 12 years, he said.
According to a survey by the National College Health Assessment, 75 percent of all college students and 70 percent of the incoming freshman are sexually active.
The changing times are demonstrated by the number of students who no longer view being sexually active as taboo.
"I don't think there's a problem with pre-marital sex," said Stephen Cornillie, an incoming supply chain management freshman from Grosse Pointe. "If you're with a person for a long enough time and it's a mutual decision, then it's OK."
A bill Granholm signed on June 24 requires abstinence to be emphasized in sex education classes in light of the threat of HIV and AIDS.
"There was very little need for this law," Martell said. "What is needed is a law that promotes comprehensive sex education in the school system."
