Abstinence only?

If you know me or have read my blog for a while you know how I feel about "abstinence only" sex education. However, you also know how I feel about carefully conducted scientific research, so perhaps in light of this study I need to rethink my position. Yes, it's true - the study actually found that an abstinence education program was more effective at delaying sex in a group of teens compared to a comprehensive program. One noteworthy difference between this abstinence program and some of the religious based ones was that this program "did not disparage condoms" and did not encourage delaying sex until marriage, but rather until one is ready.

So it does sound a bit different from the Bush-funded abstinence only programs, but I dunno, I'm still a bit skeptical (and I'm not the only one; for example, this Washington Post blogger gives some valid reasons for using caution in drawing strong conclusions from the study.) Delaying sex is almost always healthier for both the individual and society, and that should be the goal we're all working toward. However, I still stand firm on my belief that EVERYONE who intends to have sex sometime in their life, married or not, needs to know about STDs, contraception, pregnancy, hormone cycles, and anything else important and relevant that I'm leaving out. Delaying sex until marriage does not make you immune to STDs and unwanted pregnancy! People might as well learn the basics about sex at the same time they learn the basics about everything else: in school! In the aforementioned study, 33% of the teens who went through the abstinence program had sex within two years of the program. So what I'm wondering is, among the teens who did not delay sex in both groups, abstinence and comprehensive, who was the most well-equipped? They say that the abstinence approach had no negative effect on condom usage, but condoms aren't everything, you know.

On a separate subject, if there are other people out there who use blogger and know how to prevent or minimize spam comments, please enlighten me! Ugh.