Teenagers who pledged to avoid sex until marriage were as likely to have intercourse as other U.S. adolescents, according to a survey of conduct mostly in 1990s.Not only do kids who take those abstinence pledges fornicate at the same rate as those who don't, they do so in a much more dangerous way. Essentially funding for abstinence only programs and abstinence pledges is an almost direct funding of a shadow pro-teen pregnancy, pro-STD, pro-unprotected sex program. Oh those precious unintended consequences.
Teens who took the pledge also were less likely to use birth control pills or condoms than those making no promise, according to the research in the January issue of Pediatrics. The results show that teens need information on safe sex and pregnancy prevention even if they vow to refrain, a study author said.
The pledges, made orally or in writing, are viewed by advocates as buttressing federally funded education programs that say avoiding pre-marital sex rather than using protection will curb pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. President George W. Bush’s administration more than doubled the budget for abstinence-only education programs since 1999 to $204 million this fiscal year. More than a dozen states have rejected federal money rather than limit what is taught.
Furthermore the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found that abstinence programs don't affect teen behavior and a Congressionally mandated study found the same. Clearly I think we know what to do here: put our heads down, ignore every study that keeps telling us the same thing, and keep pretending this is a worthwhile use of money. You know, the same type of behavior that helps us win the War on Drugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment