We Heart Abstinence

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Let’s play dueling press releases. Here’s the Department of Health and Human Services:

HHS today announced first-year findings showing that students participating in abstinence education programs have a more positive view toward abstinence than students not participating.

Here’s Advocates for Youth:

Evaluation of these 11 [abstinence-only] programs showed few short-term benefits and no lasting, positive impact. A few programs showed mild success at improving attitudes and intentions to abstain. No program was able to demonstrate a positive impact on sexual behavior over time. A description follows of short- and long-term impacts, by indicator.

But at least these kids have a “more positive view” of abstinence.

Update: More here.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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