An AP article linked via Huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
reveals the results of another study on abstinence education. It doesn't work.
The first one
In 2005, an 8 year study on teen abstinence was released.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The results were devastating to victorian era religious sexual mores to say the least.
The study showed that virginity pledges and abstinence education did not cut STD rates. In fact std rates amongst virginity pledgers were almost equal to the general population. The study also found that virginity pledgers tended to practice oral and anal sex thinking that non vaginal sex equaled one remaining a virgin.
Well, another study has been released
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found
"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners"
In fact the study found
....more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
With such results, one wonders why oh why the democrat led congress has acquiesced to bush's demand to finance abstinence only education in American schools. Especially from a president with approval ratings below Nixon's numbers when he left the white house. The mind reals as to why a democrat majority in both houses bow over backwards for bush's abstinence only foreign aid programs (as verses past administrations promoting condom use etc)when evidence shows that abstinence education does NOT work.
The democrats in charge of both houses have allowed bush to continue to finance abstinence only education to the tune of hundreds of millions of US tax payer's money every year.
WHY?
As per this now 2nd study, such things do NOT work. In fact the opposite is true.
Education about sex and birth control in fact is shown to
....more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
(UPDATED)
Over at huffpo was a link to another interesting bit of info.
From http://www.slate.com/...
Based on Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers by Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin:
Teenagers who identify as "evangelical" or "born again" are highly likely to sound like the girl at the bar; 80 percent think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age"16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.