Yet Again: Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Does Not Work

7:01 pm EST March 24th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Proven, for the 7 millionth time.

Stoking the fire, a study published in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received abstinence-only education. The study also found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received no sex education at all.

“I do think that there’s strong evidence that comprehensive sex education is more effective at preventing teen pregnancies,” said Pamela Kohler, lead author of the study and program manager at the University of Washington’s Center for AIDS and STD. “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

Topic:

Related Posts

«
»

7 Responses to “Yet Again: Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Does Not Work”

  1. Sean D. Martin says:
    March 24, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    “I do think that there’s strong evidence that comprehensive sex education is more effective at preventing teen pregnancies.
    “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

    To which Dick Cheney would also reply, “So?”

    And Bush would befuddledly ask, “What’s your point?”

  2. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    March 24, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

    Sex education doesn’t make teenagers want to have sex any more than math classes make teenagers want to do algebra.

  3. jojo says:
    March 24, 2008 at 10:31 pm

    My sex ed classes were filled with pictures of people with all sorts of diseases. Pretty damn effective…at least until I got to college ;)

  4. fafaroo says:
    March 25, 2008 at 12:17 am

    Exactly. I remember sex ed class being as much as a turn on as drivers ed class.

  5. jr says:
    March 25, 2008 at 5:35 am

    the rapture bunnies talk about “limited government” but they legislate morality at every turn

  6. Tim says:
    March 26, 2008 at 11:38 am

    “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

    I think this is a mildly misleading statement. You can’t measure the amount of sex teenagers are having by how many of them are getting pregnant, particularly if you know they’re using contraception. There is actually a pretty decent chance that they’re having more sex, because they know they can do it with minimal consequences. That’s really the point of sex education: to minimize the negative consequences. Kohler is focusing on the wrong issue.

    I agree with C.S. that sex ed doesn’t make students want to have sex: their own bodies do that just fine. I think telling kids not to have sex is about as effective as the telling your dog to stay off the couch: some well-behaved dogs may stay off the couch all the time, but others will do as they’re told when you’re home, but you can’t watch them all the time, and then they’ll do as they please. Sex prevention is a futile effort and a waste of money. Pregnancy and disease prevention, though, are vital concerns where abstinence education is clearly not doing the job. Morality can only be regulated to a certain extent, but what this study really shows is that public health is a lot easier to control with sound public policy.

  7. Hambone says:
    September 30, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    “I think we pretty much debunked the myth that comprehensive sex education causes teenagers to have sex.”

    Let me rephrase this, as I believe the quote is slightly misleading and could lead people to argue semantics. There is no doubt in my mind that comprehensive education in regards to human sexuality is not only the best option for our community, it is essential to produce happier, more well-adjusted contributors to society. The misconceptions and ignorance shown by youth coming out of the Heritage Foundation suggested sex-ed program is appalling. This ignorance is the exact reason why HPV & cervical cancer are growing to epidemic proportions.

    Mistress Kali wrote a great short piece titled Abstinence-only Sex Education Does Not Work at: http://blog.gspottoys.com

    Education is hands down the best weapon we can give our communities to combat STD’s and unwanted pregnancy. End of story.