I try to avoid simply reposting information here but in this case I can’t help it - Martha at This is Everything got it just right when it comes to the results of Bush’s policies on sex education. (via This is Everything)

In a report that will surprise few of Bush’s critics on the issue, the Centers for Disease Control says years of falling rates of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease infections under previous administrations were reversed or stalled in the Bush years. According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of AIDS cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.”

-“Teen pregnancy and disease rates rose sharply during Bush years, agency finds” by Chris McGreal at The Guardian

And like Martha says at the end of her post - the reason for this is simple - abstinence only education doesn’t work.

Especially in a society that uses sex to sell everything.  And I’ll say it again, what we need is sex education that empowers young women.  If we teach them about their bodies and make them knowledgable they will be more likely to say no to sex if they aren’t ready and also to ask for protection if they are.   It is about helping young women to feel comfortable in their skin and with themselves - not hiding it from them.  Because Lord knows, sex education or not, young men are still going to try to get laid at every chance possible.