You would think that conservatives — who are so brain-fried by the idea of abortion — would want to minimize the number of unwanted pregnancies, since most scientists agree that abortion is impossible without pregnancy. But social conservatives have a tortured relationship with science, let alone with logic.
They want to end abortion but favor abstinence-only sex education — a dim bulb idea that seems to be specifically designed to induce fetus creation on a truly industrial scale. Mother Jones‘s Becca Andrews wrote this great piece about the abstinence-only industry and experiencing the absurdity first-hand as a schoolgirl in Tennessee.
As you would expect from an idea based on talking young people out of having sex, the numbers for abstinence-only are not good. Kids who receive abstinence-only instruction are twice as likely to get pregnant than those who have comprehensive sex ed. And teens who sign virginity pledges are less likely to use protection when they do have sex… and they do have sex.
Look, there’s nothing wrong with telling kids not to do it. And it’s perfectly fine to stand on the beach and shout at the tides not to turn. But expecting either to work is downright stupid. Well, downright stupid seems to be the way to go–fully half the states now stress the abstinence approach to sex ed.
The only sane approach is to allow women to have a choice when it comes to reproductive rights–and instituting effective sex-ed programs that minimize the number of young women who need to make those choices.
