As Sara Palin's daughter has exemplified, teens in the United States continue to suffer from the highest birth rate in the industrialized world.
Advocacy for Youth has a rich vein of information on the efficacy of "
abstinence only" education in the US, from programs in 11 states that reported on the results of $45mm worth of effort in this cause.
This is the summary of results:
Evaluation of these 11 programs showed few short-term benefits and no lasting, positive impact. A few programs showed mild success at improving attitudes and intentions to abstain. No program was able to demonstrate a positive impact on sexual behavior over time.
When you read over the details of the results, which you can do state-by-state, it becomes clear that there is little to praise about this approach. It appears that the only reason it is supported is to further a religious agenda rather than inform youth of how reproduction takes place and empower youth to take responsibility for their actions.
Palin's support of her daughter in her life choice is laudible, but it runs counter to the ideals of conservatives while showing the vulnerability in the approach she advocates as public policy. Regardless of her direct application of this approach in her own family, her daughter has proven the lie about the efficacy of the policy.
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