Third, strict curfew laws prohibiting teenagers from going out unaccompanied after dark, well to not get too draconian we can just make it teenage girls.

Actually, I'm pretty sure more teen pregnancies happen between 3 and 6 pm....

Actually, I'm pretty sure more teen pregnancies happen between 3 and 6 pm....

Curfews can be adjusted.

As a teen, I went to a coed Christian evangelical camp for one week. During that week, three of my friends became pregnant at 15. One had an abortion and two married the guys right away and had their babies. Surprisingly, the one I am still in contact with is still happily married to the same person!

But my point is that you can preach all you want, but hormones are hormones. And it sure seems that abstinence education ends up actually pushing kids to try sex (possibly because it's so exotic and "dangerous") and get pregnant than does teaching about contraception and demystifying the whole thing.

Huh, I told both my teenage boys not to have sex until they were married or 35, whichever came first. They agreed. They said they wouldn't do drugs either. I gave them a pass on rock and roll.

Also: I couldn't stand that co-ed camp and managed to get sent home early because I walked out of the chapel when the (woman) speaker told us that girls shouldn't grow up and be doctors, we should grow up and marry doctors and make babies for them. Yeah.

I happily attended and worked at an all-girls Christian camp throughout my childhood and teenagehood. It was so much easier to have fun without hormones and boys getting in the way. ;)

And it sure seems that abstinence education ends up actually pushing kids to try sex (possibly because it's so exotic and "dangerous") and get pregnant than does teaching about contraception and demystifying the whole thing.

I've heard that teenage kids who've had abstinence education tend to have sex at about the same rate as kids who did not, but they do tend to use contraception at a much lower rate. Maybe that's due to them being taught that "abstinence is the only real contraception" or maybe it's because they'd feel less guilty having sex in a moment of passion than they would actually planning ahead and getting contraception.

But one funny thing about kids who take "virginity pledges" - years later, the overwhelming majority of these kids deny ever having made such a pledge.

I gave them a pass on rock and roll.

Not to get all finger-pointy but God gave rock and roll to everyone.

maybe it's because they'd feel less guilty having sex in a moment of passion than they would actually planning ahead and getting contraception.

BINGO

Javachick, have you ever read Blankets?

Not to get all finger-pointy but God gave rock and roll to everyone.

Yeah. Plus us Americans are guaranteed the right to rock. It's in the constitution or something.