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One thing we're starting to learn--as if we didn't already know--is that the policies of the far right don't work very well. Leaving aside the financial turmoil we find ourselves in, and a number of disastrous foreign policy decisions (that's a lot to leave aside, I know), the social policies of the religious right are showing a high failure rate.
How else do you explain the high teen pregnancy rates in red states, and lower rates in blue states? The "evils" of sex education in schools may get right-wingers all atwitter, but it sure seems to work. And "abstinence only?" Well it needs to be renamed. After all, nothing in life is "only," there are always options. And the option to abstinence is to actually have sex. Which teenagers are going to do, blue or red. So why not arm them with information and protection?
Oh, and by the way, something needs to be said about sex education in schools. Things may have changed since I was in school in the 80s, but when we got to the sex part of Heath class, there was nothing sexy about it. We had one or two parents who took their kids out of class, no doubt believing that we were reading Hustler and watching porno films. The reality was far more uncomfortable, absolutely not titillating, and taught by Coach Kane, the fattest, most slovenly Phys. Ed. teacher on the planet. These paranoid parents really have nothing to worry about, their children are not getting hot and bothered in Health class.
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Ignoring sex education does not appear to be working very well. Bible studies and pretending as though sex doesn't happen with teens is not a policy. Wouldn't it be nice to see this Congress put an end to the silly abstinence programs that cost so much and deliver consistently bad results? Oh wait, we need to be fair to them too despite the facts. . .
Read more at: AmericaBlog
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