And This Proves We Need More Abstinence Education

From The Guardian, "Teen pregnancy and disease rates rose sharply during Bush years, agency finds." Shrub and Sarah probably have some explanation for this, along the lines of "God was punishing sinners during the last eight godly years, but not during the heathen Clinton Years." Haven't read the article yet... the headline demanded immediate passing on.

I expect to be exasperated for the next few minutes.

Followup: Yup. Exasperating. Here's the bottom line summary:

In a report that will surprise few of Bush's critics on the issue, the Centres for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.

This also stood out as, well, utterly horrifying to me:

In addition, about 16,000 pregnancies were reported among 10- to 14-year-old girls in 2004 and a similar number of young people in the age group reported having a sexually transmitted disease.

So we're talking about sixteen thousand pregnancies among girls in fourth to eighth grades??!!! Of course the CSC's do have a response...

It is ridiculous to say that a programme we nominally invest in has failed when it fails to overcome the most sexualised culture in world history. Education that emphasises abstinence as the best option for teens makes up a minuscule part of overall sex education in the United States," she said.

"In every other area of public policy - food, drugs, alcohol - we tell children what is the best choice. It seems very bizarre that the sex education establishment rejects the idea that we should talk to kids about what is best for them. We don't take vodka to drivers education because children will drink and drive."

No point in even trying to respond.