As far as sex ed, have you actually taken sex ed classes, or talked to people who have? The general consensus from the people who are actually supposed to benefit from this instruction is that it is "worthless" and "a waste of time." The actual reduction in unplanned pregnancies are more likely to come from the (largely cultural) ideals of taking "the pill"(which is prescribed for nearly any health issue a girl might have, because flooding the system with hormones is obviously an intelligent and healthy way of medicating an individual) and using condoms. Even "pulling out," for that matter, would reduce unwanted pregnancies to some extent. But this education takes no account for people being human, and not keeping with the pill religiously, or not wanting to use a condom, or mistiming, or whatever.
And I agree that abstinence-only sex ed is a joke. Saying "don't do it" and expecting it to happen is the same as not having sex ed in the first place. My objections to sex ed are on matters of implementation, and the fact that attendance is compulsory. But that leads us into an alternate discussion on problems with the educational system as a whole.
As a final note, particularly in regard to your comment on lefty ideals, I find this PDF document to be highly interesting. I don't know much about Third Way, but they claim to be nonpartisan both politically and in the pro-life/pro-choice debate, yet consider themselves "Progressives." To my understanding, Progressives are left-leaning. With that in mind, it is telling that these statistics imply that poverty reduction, health care, and education would actually have little effect on the abortion rate.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-04-23 05:02 am (UTC)And I agree that abstinence-only sex ed is a joke. Saying "don't do it" and expecting it to happen is the same as not having sex ed in the first place. My objections to sex ed are on matters of implementation, and the fact that attendance is compulsory. But that leads us into an alternate discussion on problems with the educational system as a whole.
As a final note, particularly in regard to your comment on lefty ideals, I find this PDF document to be highly interesting. I don't know much about Third Way, but they claim to be nonpartisan both politically and in the pro-life/pro-choice debate, yet consider themselves "Progressives." To my understanding, Progressives are left-leaning. With that in mind, it is telling that these statistics imply that poverty reduction, health care, and education would actually have little effect on the abortion rate.