Shocking, shocking news from the Journal of Adolescent Health: teenagers who receive comprehensive sex education are half as likely get knocked up. Really? You don't say.
An analysis of a 2002 federal survey has found that heterosexual teenagers ages 15 to 19 who received comprehensive sex education were about half as likely to report pregnancies as teens who received abstinence-only sex education or no sex education, the Seattle Times reports. The study also found that neither comprehensive sex education nor abstinence-only education appeared to affect teens' risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
The study "echoes" previous research that has found the federal government's promotion of abstinence-only education during the previous 10 years has had little effect on preventing teens from having sex, the Times reports. Abstinence messages are "not working and we've got to stop it," Carole Miller, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, said, adding, "There are kids getting hurt by this." LeAnn Benn -- national director of Teen-Aid, which supports abstinence-only education -- questioned the study because she said teens who receive abstinence-only education still receive other messages that teen sex is acceptable as long as they practice safer sex.
We don't have much to add to that except, well, duh.
An abstract of the study can be found here.
[Medical News Today: Comprehensive Sex Education Students Less Likely To Have Teen Pregnancies, Study Says]