Abstinence-only sex education debunked, again

A new study, ordered by Congress and with the soundest methodology used to date on sexuality education studies, has concluded the obvious. Well, obvious to us, but not-so-obvious to others. Abstinence-only sex education has no effect whatsoever on whether or not teenagers have safe sex. The money quote from the Washington Post article:

"There's not a lot of good news here for people who pin their hopes on abstinence-only education," said Sarah Brown, executive director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a privately funded organization that monitors sex education programs. "This is the first study with a solid, experimental design, the first with adequate numbers and long-term follow-up, the first to measure behavior and not just intent. On every measure, the effectiveness of the programs was flat."

Let's hope that this means Congress finally acts to pass comprehensive sex education reform. This story will percolate for the rest of the week, so we'll have an opportunity to make our case on the talk shows, op-ed pages, and the blogosphere. Let's get to work!