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Texas' Abstinence-Only Sex Ed = More Teen Pregnancies

Travel
by Hal Amen Jul 24, 2011
Governor Rick Perry sides against science / statistics, promotes abstinence-based ‘education’.

SINCE 1995, Texas schools have favored abstinence-only curricula over other forms of sex ed. The state received around $14 million a year in federal funding for abstinence education through 2008 (Obama canceled these programs).

In 2005, a study “found that students in almost all high school grades were more sexually active after undergoing abstinence education.” In 2007, Texas had “the highest rate of births and repeat births to teenage girls in the nation.” (source) (emphasis mine)

This is what is known as a positive correlation, where increased funding / support of abstinence-only education coincides with increases in sexual activity and pregnancy among teens.

It’s also what is known as a negative outcome, as in “shit, that’s not what we wanted our money / support to do.”

Yet Governor Rick Perry, Texas’ chief executive during much of this time and now a potential Republican candidate for president, continues to support the teaching of abstinence-only curricula in schools. Watch him deftly ignore ‘facts’ and instead ‘go with his gut’ in this interview from October 2010:

* Story via the Huffington Post

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