Monday, January 5, 2009

The Ineffectiveness of the Virginity Pledge

Hmmm. The Washington Post reports a federal survey found "that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers."

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote a commentary for the Huffington Post website on the same study. “At this point, it's hard to imagine how much more data the government and Congress need to collect to come to the conclusion that just telling kids to not have sex isn't working. The more that abstinence-only programs stress the failure rates of condoms and contraception, the less likely young people are to protect themselves against pregnancy and infection. What the vast majority of parents will tell you is that they want comprehensive sex education for teens in school, that includes abstinence but also information about birth control and preventing STDs.”

Terry at Get R.E.A.L. Oklahoma has some interesting insight also...

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