Whether conservatives want to admit it or not our current thinking on sex-ed is failing miserably. It's as effective as leaving two very horny teens alone in a room for a weekend after wagging your finger and saying "Behave yourselves". It just ain't working.
The story about the teens at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass. is really a sad commentary on what should be a very straight-forward discussion. Clearly talking abstinance is not working. There is more to this than just sex and a lack of birth-control. When we have far reaching issues in a community that are not being addressed, and are not easily fixed, they still can't be ignored. The Superintendent of Gloucester School released a statement saying that the 7 or 8 freshman and sophomore girls found out that they were pregnant and made a pact to stay in school and raise their babies together. This is the complete opposite of what the school nurse reported when she said that girls came in several times to take pregnancy tests and were disappointed when the results were negative. What matters is that there are girls in the community who need help and some real solutions. Clearly the abstinence bit is not cutting it.
Of course, Gloucester does not want this kind of attention. No Mayor wants this kind of egg on her face. The Mayor should wear that egg and try to look for a real solution rather than trying to wag the dog and put a different spin on this. There is no spin. The city is in trouble. The families are in trouble. The kids are showing the symptons. You cannot wag that.
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