Infertility

They never have, and the pronouncements of the General Assembly won’t countermand human nature today, either.

And abstinence pledges taken by young teenagers have a failure rate right up there with “hoping for the best.” A 2002 study by researchers from Yale and Columbia universities found that 60-80 percent of young people who reported having taken a vow to remain virgins until marriage had broken that vow.

But some combination of abstinence messages and safer-sex messages is preventing more teenagers from getting pregnant.

In Allen County, for example, the birth rate among 15-19 year-olds decreased from 53.7 per 1,000 in 2000 to 46.5 in 2003.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a 2002 study, found that more teens were waiting until later ages to have sex, and more boys were using condoms.

People of different political and religious views can all want the best for kids and still disagree about the right mix of abstinence and safer-sex messages to send young people.

But the fundamental precept of sex education in Indiana is so clear that it’s hard to comprehend how any teacher could miss it: The only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually ...

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