Abstinence education aka Might as well have no education

Far be it from George W. to base his policy decisions on facts so his policy on abstinence education is par for the course. Note to policymakers: this isn't the Beaver Cleaver United States anymore, if it ever was in the first place.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk A survey of more than 2,000 teenagers carried out by a research company on behalf of Congress found that the half of the sample given abstinence-only education displayed exactly the same predilection for sex as those who had received conventional sex education in which contraception was discussed. But even in 1990s Texas, where Mr Bush spent $10m a year on abstinence education, the state had the fifth highest teen pregnancy rate in the US. Over the past six years he has stepped up the programme to more than $100m a year. He recently braved ridicule by extending it to adults aged 20-29, an age range in which 90% of people are sexually active.