Abstinence Only Education Failing - Teen Birth Rates On The Rise
By Logan Murphy Wednesday Dec 05, 2007 3:01pm 
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On Tuesday's Live with Dan Abrams, Dan discussed with Air America's Rachel Maddow and National Abstinence Education Association's Valerie Huber (who has faced criticism for her anti-gay and religious overtones in pushing abstinence) the recent findings that the teen birth rate has risen:
In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.
The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.
However, some experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blamed it on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education that doesn't teach teens how to use condoms and other contraception. Read on...
Add to that the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among our teens and you've got a Republican recipe for disaster for our kids.
Firedoglake has more... (thanks to Nicole for her assistance)
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Once again, reality turns out to have a liberal bias.
The only successful Republican program was corporate welfare.
400 million bucks into abstinence only education and they forget to secure the domain name...
http://www.abstinenceonly.com
It's a celebration of non-penetration! (Anal Abstinence comes highly recommended, though perhaps not safe for work.)
Well no shit.
Hey Hannity, spin on this asshat!
This is as surprising as a Republican trying to have sex in a public men's bathroom.
I've said it once and I've said it a thousand times more. Asking or demanding people, especially young people with raging hormones, to abstain from the strong, natural biological impulse found in all creatures to breed is doomed to fail. It takes a very strong will to go up against nature.
This administration is dumping millions of dollars into a failing enterprise??? Wow! That's a first.
Its the republican obsession with Ronnie & Nancy Reagan. "Just say No" applies to everything in their minds.
The funny part is Reagan was a lousy president to have so much honor bestowed upon him. His acting wasn't great either.
golden rule... when you want something fu*ked up, leave in the hands of a republican.
TimV @ 7:
Teen pregnancy is in its last throes. Let's send in a surge of 30,000 abstinence teachers and give it a few more Friedmans. It'll be a cakewalk.
Rusty Shackleford @ 10:
Can we define a Friedman Unit as being 9 months instead of 6 months now?
Bush the Liar @ 8:
Not funny, but very true... Reagan being touted as a great president is absolutely ridiculous! That guy, as you note, wasn't even a good actor. Hero worship is a dangerous thing...
Of course, Huckabee doestn't have to worry about his son:
http://wonkette.com/politics/dept‘-of-the-family-circus/washington-needs-mike-huckabees-son-267358.php
TimV @ 11:
Sure. Let's call it a Friedman Gestation Unit.
It's a no duh that teen aged birth rates are rising (along with teen age boys schlongs)
Rarely can a girl give birth before then.
Maddow gave an incredible shot to the solar plexus of abstinence-only education. When Huber tried to point out that there was a study that proved abstinence-only education was indeed working, ONLY to have to say the study came from the Virginia Abstinence Education Group, Maddow quips "yeah, I find, whenever I'm judging myself, that I'm doing awesome." Brutal & beautiful & so well deserved.
As for Huber, I have two words: Stepford. Wife.
Abstinance Education is clearly just turning a corner, and teenagers everywhere will soon welcome us as liberators while they throw chocolates, flower petals, and chastity pledges at our troops.
I can't stand to watch reich-wing mouthpieces stammer their way through their pitiful explanations and justifications.
I (heart) Rachel Maddow!
Drop the Bible and your linen, Valerie Huber. We can make each other happy. Gimme gimme gimme!!!
ysbaddaden @ 15:
Sooooo...are you saying kids should be having sex UNTIL they hit puberty, and then stop? It's an odd sort of endorsement, hope you don't mind if I don't second that emoticon.
Chris T. @ 17:
And the troops will respond: "Keep the chocolates, flowers and pledges. Just send us the girls instead!" :lol:
But that's their plan. More babies = more Christians = more soldiers to throw at the evildoersssss.
Another Who-could-have-predicted-that moment.
Brought to you buy the absolute fucking moron thugs in power.
I wish the rethugs weren't afraid of the Penis and Vagina.. Although from recent news items prove they are afraid of Vagina more than penis
It's hard to argue with the republican's 'Abstinence Only' campaign, because, when you get right down to it, the plain, scientific, and even faith-based truth is:
REPUBLICANS SHOULDN'T FU*K
(At least, with anyone they could get pregnant. Normal republican fu*king is OK)
exit7a @ 24:
That is probably why the Republicans like the largely male dominated U.S. military so much as well. Many Republican men just love another man in uniform but of course they will never say that in public.
That lady sounded like she was a robot, talking very monotone, reciting her well-practiced "facts" and retorting with "That's just not true." Maybe she's a double-M android... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrqC9KsFN2w
OT, but can the Moron in Chief do ANYTHING correctly?
Harried homeowners seeking mortgage relief from a new Bush administration hotline Thursday had to contend with a bit of temporary misdirection from the president himself.
As he announced his plan to ease the mortgage crisis for consumers, President Bush accidentally gave out the wrong phone number for the new "Hope Now Hotline" set up by his administration.
slappy magoo @ 16:
Rachel was GREAT at chopping the Stepford twit into pieces, but Dan Abrams helped a lot, too. Good, hard-hitting questions and obvious amazement that Huber just kept repeating her talking points in the face of those nasty "facts" that made her look stupid. We should send these two against all the right-wing morons.
The worst part about this is that nobody's minds will be changed by this fact. Reality was never an issue when these assclowns came up with "abstinence only education" in the first place.
Hypocrites will be hypocrites. Are we really expected to believe that these asshats weren't horny as teenagers?
Is America still stuck in the 1700s? They should install chastity belt dispensing machines at all highschools with RFID tags that only your dad and the local priest have the code to.
Joe Marasmus @ 27:
I'd prefer 38 EEE's.
Methinks Rachel would too.
Neocon rule #1: Never let reality get in the way of a good story.
Abstinence-only education DOES work. It works very well.
The intent of abstinence-only education is NOT to reduce teen sexual activity or teen pregnancy. The intent of abstinence-only education is to:
a) Produce babies whose parents will then have to turn to the church to help support them
b) Keep people, and especially women, in a state of guilt-ridden servile dependency
Abstinence-only education is brilliant at this. It's a microcosm of the equally vile, wicked, nasty doctrine of sin and redemption.
See, if I tell you that premarital sex isn't just a bad idea but that it's SIN and anyone who does it is a dirty SINNER, well, then, when you do it you'll feel all guilty and ashamed and bad and apologetic.
Then, when you get pregnant, you'll have no one to turn to but ME because only I can forgive you and only I will reward your faith.
And then I have you. You'll teach your child whatever gobbledygook nonsense I tell you to. Why? Because if you don't, that'd be a SIN.
Guilt, fear and ignorance are not unintended side effects of the shame-industrial complex. They are its bread and butter.
And your tax money pays for it.
Can't these people ever admit defeat? The study is right there in front of them. My favorite part was when so quoted a study done by....and abstinence group. But leave it to Rachel to bitch slap her.
TimV @ 11:
From the article:
"And research has concluded that abstinence-only programs do not cause a decrease in teenage sexual activity, Planned Parenthood officials added.
"In the last decade, more than $1 billion has been wasted on abstinence-only programs," said Cecile Richards, the organization's president, in a prepared statement."
Now, changed a bit to reflect basic GOP governance:
"And research has concluded that abstinence-only programs do not cause a decrease in teenage sexual activity, Planned Parenthood officials added.
"In the last decade, more than $XXX billion has been wasted on (insert GOP favored program here)," said Cecile Richards, the organization's president, in a prepared statement."
And there ya go. Driving us into ignorance and bankruptcy all at once.
You mean, "Just Say NO: Part II," didn't work??? Hmmm...
Teenagers are into just saying yes...Yess...YESSSS!!
Look, this is really great news, y'all! It means that the little sinning sluts are being punished by a righteous God for seducing unsuspecting boys in order to satisfy the lustful cravings of their shameful loins! /snark/
I wonder if the rate of teen preggers is higher in the good Christian Red States? After all, Red States are more likely to counsel kids to "just say no," and to take oaths of purity, and to eschew sex until God and John Ashcroft say it's OK.
McDuff @ 32:
No, we haven't been stuck in the 1700's. We're going back to the 1700's!
Kids start wanting to have sex at puberty - around 13 y.o., or so. Always been that way, always will. You cannot educate-away biology. All cultures but our own seem to understand and accept this fact. We are once again, screwed by our own insistence on living outside reality.
Maybe if the parents pray to Jesus hard enough the kids will stop fucking (why draw the kids into it, go directly to the almighty). After all, to hear the Christians tell it, nothing beats the power of prayer (you should still buy your teenagers condoms and give them enough reality-based advice to keep them safe from disease - prayer don't cure disease, either).
JasonS @ 35:
I can agree with your sentiment. Funny though, why is it that I get the sneaky feeling that the one that forgives the SIN has his office in a men's restroom. :lol:
The following is COMPLETELY off topic:
I just found out that I'm in the same fraternity as Scott McClellan.
I'm gonna be sick.
Abstinence-only programs are the equivelent of telling gay guys to think about sports and it will go away.
deezus @ 45:
Stop going to those fraternity keggers.
Greg @ 36:
I'm not surprised that a jackass from the Right Wing Sheepfold would go into denial: The Earth is flat, Man was created a few thousand years ago and roamed with the dinosaurs until Eve, the bitch, ruined everything. And teenagers only have sex if you tell them about contraception. Studies!? They don't need no stinkin' studies! it's all about Faith. Do you want to believe the church and God or your own lying eyes, ears, and other senses?
votingvet @ 41:
I read the news today, oh boy...
The birth rate is higher in the red states along with divorce, whilst rates for both are lower on the Eastern seaboard.
Criminy! I finally got around to watching this segment. Valerie Huber is an wholly unremarkable piece of work in that she is just another conservative rockhead crippled with a brain which no new ideas can penetrate and can only speak in talking points. And boy, did she stick to them. Over and over and over again. Sooooo typical of a conservative propagandist. She had no ability to discuss the issue; this was not even a conversation. Rachel and Dan may as well have been speaking to a Chucky Cheese animatron. Valerie didn't even have the wherewithal to learn Rachel's name!
Egad. The idea that a person with no apparent critical thinking skills wants to weigh in on a fairly complex and personal issue is just mind boggling.
Add to that the rise in sexually transmitted diseases among our teens and you’ve got a Republican recipe for disaster for our kids.
In recent years, have the repugs demonstrated real concern for children and our future anytime there was a choice between them and short-term profits??
Wait'll after the '08 election, when the Dems are really in control.
The republicans, and their CrazyChristian base, are gonna be apoplectic when the dems counter 'Abstinence Only', with:
FUC*ING FOR FUN
Joe Marasmus @ 27:
Reminds me of Ms. I'm-sticking-to-my-scripted-monotonic-response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofZY5X-Ol40
Does this surprise anybody who knows the slightest thing about human beings? Of course, it won't ever shut up the abstinence crowd. Next, they'll be censoring the media. Then they'll want Christian burqas. Then they'll be calling for the return of the natural rights of men. Then they'll want to execute gays. And finally, it might "work," in a way: none of that prideful, sweaty giggling for anybody.
ysbaddaden @ 49:
Idiocracy. Not a great film, trying to stretch a very good joke a bit too far, but still pretty fun:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
Why do religious groups/conservatives hate education ? First fear was used to prevent sex, now ignorance/abstinence has been tried.
How about providing informative education including consequences of unplanned disease or pregnancy? How about having young mothers and fathers tell other teens what it is like trying to raise a child when you are still a child. Sex is going to happen, using means to stay healthy and not bring a child into the world should be a win win argument.
If they want to stop teens from getting pregnant, give them condoms.
You can teach them till you are blue in the face but also give them protection if you really care for them.
This discussion was revealing, and to Dan Abrams' credit, instructional:
Rachel Maddow: "...truth...logic...truth...evidence...truth...conclusions..."
Valerie Huber: "...smokescreen...bullshit...faith...smokescreen...conjecture...faith..."
Dan Abrams: "ALL THAT MONEY!?! FOR WHAT?!?"
The Xians are trying to push for increased spankings of teenagers, their favorite form of sex with the underaged.
I think the Abstinence only program is going about this all wrong. They need a little fear propaganda out there just like the Republicans use with all of their other talking points. Just off the top of my head they can hand out naked pictures of Dick Cheney and Barbara Bush. Those would be enough to turn any horny teenager against sex pretty quick.
scarlet p. @ 3:
I think I'll go with the 'faith-fucking' suggestion.
Al Franken had a good chapter in his book Lies! on this subject. He welcomed all proponents of abstinence education in the media and in the Bush administration to give their testimony of how they waited until marriage to have sex. Of course, you know that people like Sean Hannity or George W. didn't participate in abstinence. Hypocrites.
Hey why isn't FOX news covering this story???
ysbaddaden @ 59:
I heard that idea came from Mark Foley.
A young person asked me for information...since my info was certain to be old..I called Planned Parenthood..they have a website and a young person would talk with whomever called to answer questions. Planned Parenthood is wonderful...lets prevent pregnancy and disease and there will be less need for abortion.
Sounds like ya just can't keep em down on the farm no matter what ya try..... Neither fear mongering nor guilt tripping nor threats of indeterminate legal nature matters... And really, did anyone with any critical thinking capacity and even just a rudimentary understanding of human nature or history ever expect this to end up any differently???
Nature finds a way and really all this 'activity' while in an environment that has clearly changed healthwise since whenever we all were hopping in the backseats of our parents olds/chevy's/ford's/name that car way back when, did any admonitions scare us off of getting into each others pants back in the day???? No.... by and large it did not... Some of us engaged in various forms and degree of sexual activity and some did not.
Simply put, some people will be sexually active and some won't and that occurs at differing ages regardless of societal mores... The best one can do on this side of the generational/age fence as a parent is provide 'honest' and complete education about what being sexual really means and the real ramifications of it, along with a moral foundation for intelligent choices. And that doesn't mean abstinent only programs based on instilling fear and ignorance... or denying condom distribution in environments where those choices made available will clearly mitigate transmission of desease... And that moral foundation business?? That actually applies to life in general... It does not mean person A gets to beat person B over the head with religious based dogma..... Nature will find a way around that... As has been apparently proven here, yet again..JD
Of all the copious and convincing evidence that faith-based abstinence only sex education is useless, a one-year increase of 3% in the teen pregnancy rate ranks below the bottom of the list. Between the size of the recorded increase, the duration of the recorded increase, the complete absence of any empirical data indicating that the increase occurred disproportionately among teens subjected to faith-based abstinence only sex ed, and the plethora of possible alternative explanations for the increase, hyping this as more proof of the ineffectiveness of faith-based abstinence only sex ed is extremely counterproductive. Doing so only serves to mark proponents of real sex ed as innumerate and illogical, a mantle that should be left to the proponents of faith-based abstinence only sex education.
Ick. And just to be a little mean here:
She's also a compulsive grinner. Lady, do you really think that makes you more believable? What are you, a used-car saleperson trying to unload a Gremlin on us? Take you fear-face elsewhere!
deezus @ 45:
[deleted--don't advocate violence, even as a joke.]
A bit of the actual reich-wing world view slipped out towards the end of the interview when she referred to teens' "sexual hell".
There you have it - war is desirable, sex is hell!
Umm, not that I have ANY answers or stats, why is this a "surprise" to anyone? The article states clearly that although teen birth rates have been falling for years, they have been bottoming out...logic says that with the increase in population, whether it is legal or illegal immigrants, or just procreating Americans, the teen birth rate was bound to stop dropping and start rising. It is simple math, really. For instance, if you had one in 100 teens getting pregnant (pulling a number out of my backside!) in 1991 when we had, let's say 200 million people, why wouldn't the birth rate rise when we have 300 million people?
This is another non-story pumped up by both sides to bolster their opposing opinions.
It is obvious that abstinence only does not work, just as handing out free condoms also doesn't scut down on AIDS. Teens are prone to disobedient and rebellious behavior, and also think they will live forever, and figure that whatever trouble they get into Mommy and Daddy will bail them out. Perhaps instead of abstinence, we ought to teach responsibility.
Haven’t these people ever heard of chastity belts? I mean, if you’re going to live in the 1700’s you might as well go all the way.
Plus when you are a teen and an adult continually harps at you not to do something, all you can think of is doing that something. I remember :)
Eddybaby @ 71:
You do have a point.
the earth is flat!
if you don't believe me, I'll say it louder and longer!
tthhee eeaarrtthh iiss ffllaatt!!
Maybe that's the (religion's) goal all along, increased birth rates. It doesn't matter whether the mother is married, single, a teenager or mature just so long as women are popping out as many kids as possible. It sure is for the Catholics. Make lots of babies who will then be believers. It was a good strategy during Medieval times with high infant mortality rates and lower life expectancies. In the year 2007 in no longer makes sense.
Joe O. @ 60:
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Bush the Liar @ 8:
That was an understatement!
Have you actually tried to sit all the way through one of his crappy atrocities?
Jaysus! Bonzo was a better actor!
I wish I had a government less concerned with it's citizen's sex lives and more concerned with the upkeep of our roads, bridges, ports and dams, ie; the nation's infrastructure.
Think New Orleans if you don't get it.
We will keep doing it no matter how FUBAR the results. It's our Obstinance Only Policy. Applies to all things Bush.
I love it. It peaked in 1991, which obviously indicates that the rate shot up during Reagan and Bush I, then Clinton lowered it, and Bush II comes along and it shoots up again. But liberals' condom policies and sex ed are the cause...ya, OK. Whatever.
The repubs get thumped by reality YET AGAIN.
What would keep the birth rate down is free and easy access to abortion.
Have the kooks put 2 and 2 together and realized that the money men will never ban abortion and are just using them?
You know how the holy repubs can get away with this one...
They change the laws (of nature) extending pregnancy from 9 to 18 months when GWB is out of office. Then they can blame the next administration.
No surprise. What do you expect when you have a country run by puritans and religious freaks who think sex is filthy and evil?
The US...once again....is woefully behind the curve as it continues to act like it's still 1955.
Man, what a place.
I do not watch MSNBC a lot, but didn't Dan Abrams seem a bit too bias for this piece. I agree the absistinence only education doesn't work (and I am student at a school that teaches abstinence only), but Abrams seemed too eager to blast down the opinions of the Ms. Huber. I felt the "debate" was a two on one shouting match and I do not see how it helped MSNBC viewers to make up their own mind.
That being said I see first hand how abstinence doesn't work. Kids at my school that take the oath either break it at a party or really weren't going to have sex in the first place. At health class we are taught that condoms frequently break and leave you suspectible to most STDs (didn't specify which ones). Although it doesn't work it doesn't really hurt. It doesn't take a genius to put a condom on. It is just a pointless class we have to take.
#41 Voting Vet,
"Wonder if the rate of teen preggers is higher in the good Christian Red States? After all, Red States are more likely to counsel kids to “just say no,” and to take oaths of purity, and to eschew sex until God and John Ashcroft say it’s OK"
Your question is a good one.
Tons of data here. Other than searching it after reading your post I cannnot vouch for it. Looks like government work.
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf
"In 2000, teenage birthrates were highest in Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and
New Mexico. The states with the lowest teenage birthrates were New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Maine."
I swear, Valerie Hubris must be Nancy Reagan's secret daughter.
I can just picture that moron saying, "Just say no to sex!"
.
Wait...
I'm confused.
A 3% rise is a drop?
And I suppose black is white, up is down, in is out and Fascism is NOT America.
.
.
I agree with Rachel,
I'm the best sex I've ever had.
.
Children, today we talk about the practices YOU SHOULD NOT DO. We have: this and this and this, and especially not this and certainly not this. By the way, condoms don't work. And you get diseases from doing this and this and this, and especially this and certainly this.
No, repeat this lesson at home. Yes, I suggest you'd help each other with the homework...
No teen is taking the abstinence-only approach seriously and by telling kids that they shouldn't want something, they're going to want it even more.
Have you ever told a 4 yr old that they can't have something in the store, perhaps in the candy aisle? Do they sit down and respect your imminent authority on the matter, or do they start yelling even louder?
Republicans are so phukking stupid.
chris h. @ 85:
...didn’t Dan Abrams seem a bit too bias for this piece. I agree the absistinence only education doesn’t work (and I am student at a school that teaches abstinence only), but Abrams seemed too eager to blast down the opinions of the Ms. Huber.
I know we are not used to it these days, but Abrams was indeed biased - biased towards the facts. This isn't some sort of pro life/pro choice debate where you can come down on either side depending on what you belief system is. There is a growing unanimous consensus within science (you know, the examining of facts) that abstinence-only is not just helpless but harmful. There are children getting pregnant and teenagers dying because some flat-earthers won't accept reality.
Yes, I think he seemed to be a wee bit biased towards that notion. And good for him. It's called journalism, you know.
Another bass-ackwards flat-earther conservative program is a miserable failure? Who would have ever saw that coming?
Has anyone talked to teachers or students from 6th grade on? I have and the "new way" of being popular is oral sex. I am speaking of upscale neighborhoods. So, there needs to be alot more talking going on starting at 5th grade.
Just have to add one thing about the "Just say No " president and wife. It didn't work for them, check the biography their first was full term baby at 6 months of marriage. So do as I say, not as I did.
frenchfries @ 92:
Yes, but...republican fondness for gay sex should start reducing those higher birth rates.
Only in America
No credible doctor, educator, engineer, journalist, scientist, sociologist or statistician would draw such firm conclusions from one uptick in the data, but that is apparently of consequence to bloggers on a never-ending quest to stir up controversy and/or bash their political opponents.
Because telling teen-agers not to do something is always effective. They just nod and say, 'Okay, no sex.'
Jeez, the history of the world (even the Bible) is peppered with people who couldn't stop themselves and these clowns expect teenagers, people who do not have a fully developed frontal cortex, to just say no. I am sick and tired of the most ignorant, harmful versions of Christianity making law in this country. It's time to take our secular government back from these idiots.
If scared, ignorant people want to live by the rules of a primitive patricarchal culture, fine. But by insisting that the rest of us have to do the same they are exactly like the Taliban et al.
Julio @ 98:
Nice of you, quoting Bono there.
But it fits: Only in America
frenchfries @ 92:
Excellent answer.
I would add that there is no equivalence between Huber's opinions and Abrams' facts. The incorrect notion that in a discussion of Earth Science, fairness requires equal time for a flat-earther has been fostered by the decline of journalism in general and fact-based reporting in particular.
What simpering airhead ever entertained the notion that this idiotic system ever stood any chance of producing anything pertaining to a positive result?
With this report, on the failure of 'Abstinence Only' Congress is going to have to take action.
The most likely proposal to be accepted, is to fit all children, female and male, with chastity belts at the age of eight.
And, to avoid cheating, all the girls' belts, and all the boys' belts, will be fitted with locks that accept only one key for the girls' belts, and a different key for the boys' belts.
You want to see one hell of a fight in Congress? Wait'll you see the republican congressmen fighting to see who gets to hold the boys' key, and the democratic congressmen fighting to see who gets to control the girls' key.
Rob J @ 67:
Ok - see if you can follow this. As billions are spent promoting abstinence only and the numbers of students exposed exclusively to this education instead of real sex education increased, so has the number of teen pregnancies. Now if these programs were even slightly effective, the number would drop.
Dan Abrams is getting infected with that Liberal truthness.
I blame myspace. have you seen all the babes hanging out there? how could abstain with that kind of sensory overload/
repugs repugs repugs
Everything they touch turns into a scandal.
Invade and occupy -- total fuck up
Kill and destroy -- check
repuginized the USAG -- really bad fuck up
Use the AG for excusing repug crime -- check
No child left behind -- terrible
More blackwater, jails -- check
WWIII, mushroom clouds, WMD, freedom, democracy -- EAUAFU (Everything As Usual, All Fucked Up)
Bomb Iran -- check
No impeachment -- horrible
More of chimpy ineptitude -- check
stealing, looting, lying, cheating --
For the typical Evangelical, STD's and pregnancy is exactly what you deserve when you lead a sinful life. Fuckin idiots.
I know the perceived liberal inbalance in this segment is obvious, but isn't it important to consider how this segment would have gone down on O'Reilly? I think it's also important to note that while Maddow and and Abrams were ganging up on the asshat, they were giving her plenty of time to talk, respecting her side of the argument and backing up their side with facts that Huber had way of discounting. If something doesn't work, it just doesn't work, no matter what political bias the result may seem to have. I may be a liberal, but I still put a security system on my car. It does a pretty good job of keeping people from breaking in.
My two, now adult daughters, both were on the pill by the time they were 17. Not because they were promiscuous but because we wanted them to be responsible if they thought they may become sexually active.
They are now healthy, happy young women and I thank God that my wife helped them through the difficult teenage years.
Abstain from sex until marriage.
What if I never get married?
Does that mean I can never have sex?
Well that stinks.
Roket @ 72:
I would have no problem with the religious-right wearing chastity belts. We just have to find a way to make them rust permanently shut so they can never take them off.
Maybe then the stupid gene we have running rampant in America would die out.
I think there is only one way for the religious-right to win the abstinency battle:
Have O'Reilly declare that there is a War on Abstinence that George Soros is funding.
Or boycott sex and thus destroy it, like he financially destroyed France.
I'm confused. Are parents restricted to discussing abstinence-only approaches, and required to withhold information from their children?
(No, I'm not missing the forest for the trees by ignoring the myriad reasons why a parent might not be the best source for sex ed info, like being some kind of idiot, or abusive, or Carrie White's mother. I just don't think the number of those cases can constitute a 3% increase in teenage pregnancy. Or 1%. How many pregnancies = 3%?)
Update: Ok, I've now watched the clip, and I've stopped laughing so hard that my eyes were watering. Abstinence-only is a holistic method? I can see the pitch to the school board now; New and improved! With more than twice the spurious effect!
I'm sorry but you gotta blame the parents for this one. It's just like when I was younger and my parents told me: I don't care what the other kids are doing, YOU don't do it. That's what these parents should be teaching their kids. Unfortunately, some of the parents are still in braces :-(
reason @ 101:
Hey, hey could've quote GW with "fool me once, shame.......wait, fool me......I'll go look it up"
This is no surprise to me....between mid last year and this year I have had 7 pregnant girls in my classes...before that it would only be one a year.............part of the reason is that the religious right has influenced the content of health education books and birth control and condoms are not even in the indexes of these books...maybe we can get back to a rational policy soon
slappy magoo @ 16:
Which cites a report written by the "Institute for Research and Evaluation," run by Stan Weed, Ph.D. (in Social Psychology), "widely published researcher and former professor. He has been a partner/co-founder of the Institute for Research and Evaluation (Salt Lake City) since 1985, focusing primarily on teen pregnancy, AIDS prevention and character education curricula."
His name shows up on the program of the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion as a member of the Board of Directors and also as a member of the LDS.
The only places he's "published" are abstinence sites and Heritage Foundation organizations and their ilk.
My idea - repugs should practice abstinence. Forever. Less repug kids the better.
the southern baptist shariaists can pound sand
Otay @ 113:
Sooooooooo laughing over here! By far my fave comment regarding this very sad evidence of the tidal wave of hypocrisy commensurate with the 'faith based' agendas.
blueindependent @ 96:
You're right, of course. But I couldn't come up with a better example. Let's just say there are legitimate discussions where you could come down on either side, depending on your belief system. You could say welfare is bad on principle, gun control is bad on principle, taxing the rich more than the poor is bad on principle. Fine with me.
But backing up these beliefs with "facts" like welfare hurts the economy, gun control results in more murders, taxing the rich more than the poor hurts the economy - as has been argued - is not justifiable for a reality based journalist.
So you could say: I think having sex before being married is wrong and is not healthy for your soul.
But if someone says: The best way to prevent children and teenagers from getting pregnant and catching a STD is telling them not to have sex and telling them that contraceptions don't work - I expect a serious journalist to say: Bullshit! And if they come up with a study by their political friends from the office on the other side of the aisle - I expect a serious journalist to say: Bullshit!
Abrams has done that - and good for him. That's not bias, that's journalism. But, as I said, we're not used to it anymore.
jr @ 121:
And I thought they pound pud.
deezus @ 74:
The point of the story was that a great deal of $ has been wasted on a program that obviously does not and never will work as the study pointed out. And to think that the dems are agreeing to throw more $ into this program... They are just as bad as the repigs.
It's (again) the economy, Republicans!
When the economy turns south, teen pregnancy goes up and therefore abortion goes UP.
If you don't like teens fucking or aborting, then work to end poverty, restore the middle class.
That is all.
To my knowledge, the rest of the industrialized world doesn't have any government funded abstinance only programs. Yet, they are the ones with a lower teen pregnancy rate and lower abortion. And, the US is also the most religious of any industrialized nation. How does the religious right explain this?
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