Hero Judge Rules Abstinence-Only Sex Education Isn't Actually Sex Education

For as long as I can remember, I've been ranting about the shameful and intellectually empty contradiction between the stated desires of conservatives with regard to abortion -- they claim to want to reduce or eliminate abortion -- and their approach to going about it, namely by making abortion illegal, making contraception difficult to access, and teaching abstinence-only sex education. All of these approaches are the opposite of what anti-choice conservatives claim to want.

Making abortion illegal or difficult to access does not reduce the number of abortions but drives women determined to have an abortion to unsafe abortions, often putting their own health and lives at risk.

Making contraception harder to access leads to more pregnancy. Since the main prerequisite for having an abortion is being pregnant, making contraception harder to access increases the number of abortions sought. Recent studies in St. Louis have confirmed what would be obvious to everyone.

Lastly, teaching abstinence-only sex education is a failure. California Judge Donald Black recently ruled that Clovis Unified School District's curriculum, which was abstinence-only-focused, was not really sex education, not meeting the state's own guidelines. Further, he found that it was providing medically inaccurate information. Unsurprisingly, the curriculum was also touting anti-gay "traditional family" propaganda. Take a look: