So Much For That "Abstinence Only" Idea: Teen Birth Rate Rises For First Time Since 91

AP:

In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education.

The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had slowed in recent years. On Wednesday, government statisticians said it rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

07:36 PM on 12/07/2007

HHHHHMMMMMMM. "just say no" seems to have morphed into "just say ho".

What a friggin surprise. Chastity balls and all the other republicon bull hasn't worked? I'm shocked, just shocked.

[BradPittsburgh]

02:08 PM on 12/06/2007

Teens are meant to have sex. Old people aren't.

[rwe]

12:30 PM on 12/06/2007

read the article , all of those words, hufftards....while abstinence only is not the rule of the land as you would blame , condom usage is at an all time high...IT is the liberal -progressive mantra that sex is inevitable and it is ok with and with as many and as young as can be. Hell Bill did not even know what sex was and he basically has given an entire generation the permission to have sex when and where and it is ok....Hey Larry Craig did not get any teenager pregnant

[jmpurser]

10:17 AM on 12/06/2007

Hey if we gave up on every idea that proved to be wrong, stupid, harmful, or down right suicidal we'd have a strongly progressive income tax rate, a balanced budget, universal health care thanks to our single payer plan, a clean environment, empty jails, no drug problem, and no endless war for nothing in Iraq and a lost war in Afghanistan.

THEN where would we be? I mean can you imagine an America where there's nothing left to talk about but Britany's mothering lapses or Hulk Hogan's divorce? Spare me!

[rbspickles]

10:16 AM on 12/06/2007

Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm not at all surprised. When you make kids think that sex is dirty and forbidden, they're going to jump in head first (no pun intended). How the hell did these Christo-fascists get control? Now our children and their children are paying the price.

[wadenelson1]

10:09 AM on 12/06/2007

Where's Rush Limbaugh, or Glenn Beck's opinion on this? How come the Religious Right hasn't checked in?

Could it be in telling teenagers to "Just Say No!" they're subverting what God intended -- that humans procreate while they're young and healthy?

What about those religious hypocrites who are against both abortion AND providing sexual education in schools.

[getoffmedz]

09:43 AM on 12/06/2007

Does "abstinence-only" programs advocated by the Bush/Cheney insane asylum cause free range sperm?

You be the judge.