I love insanity

I wonder if Mr. Chris Hanzek would like to cite those studies that claim abstinence reduces unwanted pregnancies and STI transmission rates. I know for a fact that he is wrong, but it would be interesting to see what reality he exists in where his comments hold up to scrutiny. Looking to our southern neighbours, for the first time in over a decade, the Centers for Disease Control note that teenage pregnancy rates and STI infection rates are increasing. Interestingly, this coincided with the mandate of abstinence-only education brought to America by then-President George W. Bush. It may be hard to believe, but there appears to be a correlation between abstinence-only education and rising rates of teen pregnancy and STI transmission. The studies I cite do not show the extent of the problem, as pregnancy rates do continue to diminish into 2005, as students who were originally given comprehensive sex education age out of the system, or they remember what they were taught prior to the imposition of the new ideological agenda.
Mr. Hanzek claims that you don’t really need a study to show that telling people not to have sex and then hoping for the best works better than ensuring that young people have the information needed to make informed choices, and then giving them the tools needed to stay safe. Unfortunately, reality would tend to disagree with him. Perhaps we really do need such a study, so that biased, utterly incorrect information such as that being peddled by Mr. Hanzek and Ms. Stilwell can be debunked and our children can still get the information they need to stay safe and STI free.
Below are citations of actual studies taken on the subject, showing that abstinence-only education does not reduce unwanted pregnancy or STI transmission rates.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00053654.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/infosheets/infosheet_teen_pregnancy.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/infosheets/infosheet_teen_pregnancy.pdf