It is high time that abstinence-only education is thrown out. Obviously, it has NOT worked. We need to look at statistics, listen to scientists and medical professionals, and stop letting religion get in the way of public education. Or, you can just tour any high-school. You’ll see plenty of pregnant girls.
This is not about justifing teen-sex; this is about being realistic. Does everyone over 30 forget about their teenage years??
It also could very well prevent many abortions.
It’s absolutely absurd that an entire subject (sex) is completely ignored by the school system. Education is the key to making informed decisions.
This is especially true in an age when sex sells everything from cars to hamburgers, and children can easily access it on the internet.
I fully agree with Ms. Miller, it is much better for a young person to hear fact from their teacher rather than misinformation from their peers.

Excuse me girl, hear the facts from a teacher? Please, what mom and dad are for. We can prevent abortions by not allowing them, seems simple to me. Education is the key to making informed decisions? No, faith and common since is.

Faith has led to many informed decisions by Priests to rape little children. Common sense doesn’t exist in religion.

It’s been years since I was a kid in school - so I’m confused about all of this. I’m a product of the STL public school system. Sex Ed was standard when I was a kid, and sex still happened. Most of my friends who were sexually active attended church regularly. There’s another factor here that’s not being discussed.

I think a kid makes a decision to either have or not have sex based upon their personal value system. That probably has more to do with parents than anyone else. Most of the kids that I knew that abstained, did so because they didn’t want to let themselves or their parents down with an unplanned pregnancy. If a young person can generate a strong enough vision of how great their future could be, they won’t want to mess up.

I am not slamming a religious upbringing, I just see compassionate/engaged parrenting as being key. Without it, a child just drifts - looking for a sense of belonging wherever they can find it.

ok John Lennon, religion is bad. Do you really think that those with real faith would rape? Common since does exist, so does evil, like it or not. Children who do not have religion are more likely to get pregnant. And girl knowledge is the key to making informed decisions, not Education. You can learn a thing or two taking to grandpa or at the end of a fishing poll.

It has been shown that the only significant difference between “abstinence only” programs and “traditional” sex ed programs is whether the young people use birth control or not. The age at first sexual encounter is roughly the same, the abortion rate based on numbers of pregnancies is roughly the same. The difference is in the overall numbers of pregnancies. Abstinence programs have been shown to INCREASE the teen pregnancy rate, to INCREASE the numbers of school dropouts, INCREASE the numbers of under-21 marriages and divorces, and DECREASE the final education level of the young people.

What is good about any of this?

How many grandparents are raising grandchildren produced by abstinence educated teenagers?

hs, how do you prove such a thing? “Abstinence programs have been shown to INCREASE the teen pregnancy rate, to INCREASE the numbers of school dropouts, INCREASE the numbers of under-21 marriages and divorces, and DECREASE the final education level of the young people” You cannot, dropouts and the rest I am sure are from other reasons, its not as simple as a silly class at school.

almon: about 6 months ago there was a long article in The New Yorker, I think it was titled “Blue sex, Red sex” that looked at the teenage sexual activity, pregnancy, abortion, early marriage, early divorce, and final education levels in various states. The numbers were there to show that in states where “abstinence only” is the rule, there were more teenage pregnancies, earlier marriages, fewer girls going to college, more early divorces, more babies living with grandparents, and all the rest.

The inescapable conclusion is that abstinence only programs don’t decrease teenage sexual activity. They seem to primarily decrease the use of birth control, which leads to all the rest.

We need to acknowledge the truth: teenagers WILL have sex. They don’t have to have pregnancies. I say this as a middle aged father of young adult daughters. We have made it to the age of 21 for the youngest without any grandchildren or abortions. I happen to think that is a good thing. I am reasonably certain they were all sexually active while still in high school. I do not (and did not) necessarily approve of that…but I was glad they were being smart about it.

“Excuse me girl, hear the facts from a teacher?”–Almon

Give me a break. You wingnuts have spent the last twentyfive years trying to tear down one of the least appreciated and most underpaid professions there is, teaching.

From reading any of your Hannity Inspired diatribes about public education, you’d think that the public school teacher volunteers at abortion clinics in their free-time.

These people work with all kids, not just the ones cherry picked by private schools, parents than undermine classroom authority and discipline, school boards that have a political agendas, and idiots like Almon.

One more comment, Almon: the article I cited also found a direct correlation between a religiously conservative home and the teenage pregnancy rate. Fundamentalists seem to have MORE babies by their teenagers than others. Bristol Palin, anyone?