(CNSNews.com) - Las Vegas may be best known for gambling and strip joints, but its local population includes one of the nation's largest concentrations of pre-teens and teenagers. For this reason, the Abstinence Clearinghouse Thursday will open its annual conference in Vegas.

The seventh annual International Abstinence Conference will run through Saturday and include 50 speakers - all attempting to spread the message to the 700 people expected to attend that sex should be delayed until marriage. Las Vegas has the sixth largest school district in the nation, and according to the U.S. Census, 26 percent of the city's population is under 18 years of age.

The events will focus on educating not only the area's youth, but also its health instructors, educators and parents. The purpose of the conference is to teach community members how to start an effective abstinence program, said Kristin Scuderi, a spokeswoman for the Abstinence Clearinghouse.

The organization's efforts are in line with the Bush administration's plan to channel millions of dollars to public schools for abstinence-only education.

Laura Deitsch, program manager of Southern Nevada Planned Parenthood, said she thinks abstinence-only sex education programs are inadequate since many parents want their teens to have more access to information about sex. Studies show that 84 percent of parents nationwide think sex education should be "comprehensive," providing teens with information about contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence, she said.

"When teens are given all the information and have everything to choose from, they make more responsible choices," Deitsch said.

The Abstinence Clearinghouse is opposed to teaching youth about how to use different contraceptive methods because, the group contends, that sends a mixed message. If young people learn that they should wait until they are married to have sex but are also given access to contraceptives, this implies sex before marriage is actually acceptable, Scuderi said.

But most young people begin having sex in their mid- to late teens, Deitsch added, which is about eight years before the average age for marriage. Waiting until marriage just isn't realistic, she said.

Leslee Unruh, founder and president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said the organization realizes many teens won't wait until marriage, however, it still wants to reach out to them, using "abstinence" as a standard.

The purpose of abstinence-only education, Unruh said, is also meant to give teenagers a second chance and to encourage them to realize they are worth waiting for.

There are many psychological benefits for youth who decide to abstain from sex until marriage, Scuderi said. For example, when two people engage in intercourse, they both release a hormone called oxytocin that creates a bond between them, she said.

"If they engage in premarital sex and they're bonded, when they break up, there is heartache and broken dreams of whatever they'd hoped would come of that relationship," Scuderi said. "If they had saved sex until marriage, they would have been in a committed relationship.

"The best sex is in marriage, and the people who are having the best sex are the church ladies," she added. "People laugh, but it's true. Marriage gives people security that their spouse is not going to leave them."

However, Deitsch said she thinks people usually do not have long-term negative psychological effects from engaging in sex before marriage. She said studies show 90 percent of men and more than 90 percent of women say they wanted to have their first sexual encounter when it happened. Most of these people have had sexual intercourse before marriage, Deitsch added.

In spreading its message, the Abstinence Clearinghouse plans to distribute "good girl" cards along the strip in Las Vegas. The cards are photographs of average women abstaining from sex until marriage and are meant to counteract the pamphlets typically handed out on the strip that contain photographs of prostitutes, Scuderi said.

And just because Las Vegas promotes sex to tourists doesn't mean young people living in the area can't put off sex until marriage, Unruh said. "The most important sex organ is the mind, and we want to promote a heart and mind connection," she added.

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