Teenage sex, lies and statistics

By Libby

After six years of policy based on religious beliefs, the fruits of 'faith-based' sex ed are ripening. The latest statistics show teenage births rose 3% last year. The obvious conclusion is that abstinence-only sex ed is the culprit yet the abstinence-only nannies are claiming this is proof that teaching about safe sex is to blame, apparently because they haven't managed to completely wipe out the fact-based programs yet.

Oddly, "a biannual government survey of high school students found that the percentage of those who said they used a condom the last time they had sex rose to 63 percent in 2005, up from 46 percent in 1991." There's that self-reporting thing again. Considering "sexually transmitted disease rates have been rising, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia." one might think those kids are, shall we say, stretching the truth?

This isn't rocket science. Teenagers are going to have sex. They always have and they always will. Why we allow our federal government to spend $176 million annually on abstinence-only education is the only mystery here.