Teens and sex

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Latest Column: Safe Sex Lies by La Shawn Barber (update: the permalink works now).
"What's the surest way to increase a teenager's risk of incurable diseases, cervical cancer, pregnancy, infertility, abortion, a broken heart, a jaded view of love and marriage, and doom a child to poverty and fatherlessness?

"Teach her how to put a condom on a cucumber.

"...increased abstinence education is a major cause in the drop in pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers. Among unmarried girls between ages 15-19, increased abstinence education accounted for a 67 percent decrease in pregnancy rates.

"In other words, the decline in pregnancy rates among teens is due to a reduction in the proportion of sexually active girls, not to the increased use of contraception, according to an April 2003 study published in Adolescent and Family Health.

"I can hear liberals now: 'Get out of the Dark Ages! It's unrealistic to expect teenagers to not have sex until they're married.' I agree. Youth surrounded by sexual permissiveness shouldn't be expected to abstain; they need to be taught. If they're taught to avoid the risks of drinking and drug use and about the harmful effects of smoking, why can't they be taught self-control in the area of sexual activity?"

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