Study Reveals Abstinence-Only Sex Education Has No Effect on Teen Behavior

Sex education programs funded under Title V of the Social Security Act, required by law to teach complete sexual abstinence prior to marriage, has essentially no effect on teen sexual activity, according to a federally funded study quietly released late on a Friday afternoon.

According to the study, Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs [ PDF], carried out by Mathematics Policy Research, Inc., abstinence-only educations have no impact on teen abstinence:

$875 million dollars down the drain. Of course, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what we've wasted on Iraq. But take care of the billions, and the trillions will take care of themselves.

At least we can comfort ourselves in the knowledge that Republican-mandated initiatives to keep young people ignorant and ill-informed don't work.

(via Alas, a Blog; hat tip to Debbie!)