Tara Culp-Ressler dissects the latest CDC report on sex education (pdf):
[A]lthough about 91 percent of teen girls said they received some kind of sex ed instruction in school before they turned 18, just six in ten said that included information on both birth control and how to say no to sex. And a staggering 83 percent said they had already started having sex before they heard anything about the topic in class. …
Although conservatives tend to deride efforts to overhaul human sexuality curricula as inappropriate attempts to implement “kindergarten sex ed,” the CDC’s research underscores the point that teaching kids about their bodies can’t wait until senior year of high school. Other data on the subject has confirmed that the majority of teens have had sex by the time they turn 18, and messages about abstinence don’t convince them to make different choices.
Rachel Bronstein explains what this means for teen pregnancy:
While births to younger teens (15-17 year-olds) declined 63 percent from 1991 to 2012, they still represent over a quarter of adolescent births. That is nearly 1,700 births a week, according to this month’s Vital Signs, with higher birth rates for Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents.
CDC researchers, analyzing birth data from the National Vital Statistics System and adolescent health behavior data from the National Survey of Family Growth, found that one in four teens from this age group had never spoken with a parent about sex. While 90 percent reported using some form of contraception, most relied on the least effective methods. (Planned Parenthood qualifies spermicide and fertility-awareness methods as least effective.)
The Dish 