Ethics

More Evidence on Failure of Abstinence Only

By Ed Brayton

The Bush administration continues to push for abstinence only sex education even while their own studies show that it's not only not reducing teen sexual activity, it's making that sexual activity less safe and more likely to result in pregnancy and disease. The Washington Post reports:

The nation's campaign to get more teenagers to delay sex and to use condoms is faltering, threatening to undermine the highly successful effort to reduce teen pregnancy and protect young people from sexually transmitted diseases, federal officials reported yesterday.

New data from a large government survey show that by every measure, a decade-long decline in sexual activity among high school students leveled off between 2001 and 2007, and that the rise in condom use by teens flattened out in 2003.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on June 08, 2008 (boomark / email).