Let's Talk About Sex!

Serious, let's talk about sex! Because apparently, believe it or not, the Bush administration's insistence that "Abstinence Only" sex education is the only acceptable form of sex education has resulted in an all-time high in both pregnancy and unwed pregnancies according to the CDC.

Yeah, I know, shocking. Over the past few years more and more states have declined federal aid for their sex education programs because this aid could only be used to teach "Abstinence Only" sex education. It didn't take long for these states to notice their teen and unwed pregnancy rates were going up.

Now the statistics are beginning to be released and the findings are hardly surprising considering the idiocy of "Abstinence Only" sex ed. Of course it is ironic that I am writing these thoughts. Unlike many of the authors of these sex ed programs my wife and I proudly practiced "Abstinence Only" before marriage but unfortunately most of the world doesn't work that way not to mention mistakes do happen and when they do it is important to know what options exist.

Anyway, here is the CDC's findings:

A few interesting highlights from the report according to MSNBC include:

• The US population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend.
• The teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row...births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend begun years ago.
• Nearly 72 percent of the births to black women were out of wedlock. Mothers were unmarried in about 51 percent of Hispanic births and 28 percent of non-Hispanic white births.
• Cesarean section deliveries continue to rise...almost a third of all births. Health officials say that rate is much higher than is medically necessary.
• Among the states, Utah continued to have the highest birth rate and Vermont the lowest.

So in a jiffy that is the results of 8 years of "Abstinence Only" sex ed designed by people who did not practice "Abstinence Only." Naturally, I am all for "Abstinence Only" and truly believe sexual relations should only take place in the confides of a marriage but just like Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah Palin, who recently said in an interview, such thinking is simply not "realistic." However, in regards to raising Henry I'm going to stick with the old adage, "Hope for the best, plan for the worst."