Ye Olde Virginity Pledge

Most adults agree that high schoolers should be discouraged from having sex until they're older and in a committed relationship. But keeping children ignorant endangers their health. Mathematica Policy Research Group, funded by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, found that "abstinence-only programs had no effect on the sexual abstinence of youth." Another recent study found that young people who took the 'virginity pledge' were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. The study also showed that pledgers were not only less likely to use condoms to prevent STDs, they were less likely to seek medical testing and treatment, thereby increasing the possibility of transmission.

The Washington Independent reports: "Marcella Howell, a vice-president for Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit organization devoted to sex education, said abstinence education was an early priority of Bush's social agenda. 'He kept saying during the 2000 presidential campaign he was going to triple abstinence funding,' Howell said. 'It was a component of his faith-based initiatives...' She added that 'for the funding to end, the debate must shift away from conservative ideology and toward accurate information'..." (Read it here.)

Accurate information! What a concept! Unfortunately religious conservatives, the ones who keep insisting that 'Creationism' is science, favor inaccurate information. Or no information. And it's their children who suffer the consequences.