By David Hunter

I don’t usually get to post these sorts of stories, usually Iain spots the salacious ones a mile off before I do…

It turns out according to the BMJ that a US study has shown that abstinence pledges are ineffective at preventing sex among teenagers, those who vow not to end up having sex at comparable rates to those who don’t take the pledge. However the same research appears to have shown that abstinence pledges are effective at combating the absence of teenage pregnancies and STDs, since those who take the pledge are much less likely to use appropriate contraception when they have the sex they promised not to have…

Of course this comes as little surprise to many of us who lack an ideological bent towards abstinence only sex education. I mean really? It turns out asking teenagers to promise not to have sex is ineffective at preventing teenagers having sex, how surprising.

What is research going to show us next? Something really crazy like actually a vaccine that might prevent cervical cancer in later life doesn’t actually increase the rate of sexual activity in young girls?

If only we could manage to avoid the STD issue then perhaps putting funding into absence only sex education is what developed nation governments should do to combat falling birth rates!