Link of the Day: Abstinence-Only Education Epic Fail
8 January 2009
In the 6,375,812th example of abstinence-only education proving itself to be an epic fail, the Centers for Disease Control released a new report that found that Mississippi “now has the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rate…” (h/t Ben K.).
Sigh. Isn’t there a way to practice religion without turning yourself into an anti-intellectual who willfully ignores any and all empirical evidence in favor of whatever imagined version of quote-unquote “God’s will” you deem to be immutable and irrefutable? There is, but the good folks in the Mississippi Department of Human Services must’ve skipped that class.
Use your heads, people. Teenagers are going to have sex whether your pastor likes it or not. Give them some f’ing condoms. This is not complicated.
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2 Comments
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“This might be my #1 pet peeve.” I’m right there with you on that sentiment, Jonah.
It would be nice to think “maybe it’s not as simple as that, maybe they have some argument,” but alas no, it really IS that simple. Teenagers are going to have sex. Period. And the ones who are taught that sex is evil and not informed about safe sex methods have proven over and over again that they will be more likely to have unprotected sex, contract STDs, and get pregnant at 15 or 16.
As someone who lives just a tad north of MS and was given roughly the same sex education in school, I can tell that lines like these were used:
“True love waits.”
“Don’t waste your most precious gift.”
“Pet your dog, not your date!”
So while it seems people in my beloved south are very much against premarital sex, beastiality is totally cool. It’s dumb luck half my school didn’t get knocked up before graduation. Though at least there is plenty of access to facilities if you do get pregnant here.