 Beginning in the second half of the 19th century , American rates of sexually transmitted diseases <unk> . Causes cited by historians include effects of the American Civil War , and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the <unk> laws . To fight the growing epidemic , sex education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time , teaching about <unk> diseases and how they were transmitted . They generally taught that abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases . Condoms were not promoted for disease prevention because the medical community and moral <unk> considered STDs to be punishment for sexual <unk> . The stigma against victims of these diseases was so great that many hospitals refused to treat people who had syphilis . 
