Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Dominates In State With Highest Teen Pregnancy

[ProfessionalLeftist]

(That's because - hello - it doesn't work!)

Mississippi reported 55 births per 1,000 teens aged 15 to 19 in 2010 - more than 60 percent above the U.S. average, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in April.

The state also has one of the nation's highest infant mortality rates and among the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea infections among teens and young adults, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.

"It was obvious we had a serious problem in the state," said Democratic state Representative Cecil Brown, who chaired the committee that championed the bill. "You can't stick your head in the sand."

Abstinence-only allows districts to teach about the benefits of avoiding sex until marriage, the consequences of bearing children out of wedlock and how to reject sexual advances. Such programs also teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/feature-mississippi-schoo_n_1831069.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[Zoeisright]

1. Gee, WHAT a surprise.

NOT.

The sex drive is a biological drive; telling kids to ignore it doesn't work.

[hack89]

2. As the father of a teenage boy - no shit!!. nt

[Drale]

3. Well this part is true

"Such programs also teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases." But if someone thinks that teens or any humans for that matter are not going to have sex makes them one of the stupidest people in the solar system. This is one area of many that the Federal Government needs to step in and create standards that every state must follow. Teens need to know about the risks of sex and how to say know to sex if they are not ready but they also need to know about birth control and that sex is not evil.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. And it's not just that they need to know, they deserve to know. The decisions they make now could

impact them for the rest of their lives. IMO, it's almost criminal to deny them the knowledge and the means to prevent pregnancy and std's.

[HopeHoops]

4. Solution: aspirin.

[abelenkpe]

5. Shocking.....not. Nt

[Javaman]

6. that state is, by definition, insane...

they try the same thing over and over and hoping for a different outcome.

[LeftinOH]

8. What's the biggest river in Mississippi? Denial.

The local paradigm seems pretty obvious: If you don't talk openly about a problem, then it doesn't really exist.

[Quantess]

9. K & R

[DonRedwood]

10. sex ed is the best way to prevent everything...pregnancy, disease, stupidity