It's a dramatic story.


In Gloucester, Mass., out of a class of 1,200, 17 girls are pregnant
or had children this year. Time magazine reported that some of the
girls even joined a "pregnancy pact."


What went wrong? What would drive teen girls to make a pact to get
pregnant? Who's to blame?


The right-wing punditry has, not unexpectedly, rushed to judgment. Some say that the
immaturity of these girls underscores their inability to
decide what's right for their bodies. Others say Hollywood, Jamie Lynn Spears, and
the glamorization of sex are at fault.


But is it possible that Gloucester High School's policy of denying students
access to contraception played a role?


The truth is that nobody knows the answers and rushing to any judgment,
from either side of the ideological divide, is premature at best.


But here's what we do know: The abstinence-only policy pushed so hard
by the Bush administration and the right-wing for years doesn't work.


In 2006, the teen pregnancy rate increased by 3 percent, after steadily declining for the
previous 14 years. This increase directly
correlates with the increase in abstinence-only education. The teen
pregnancy rate had started its decline in the early nineties, and
during this time period, an increase in condom use was also reported.
But since George W. Bush took office and revamped funding for
abstinence-only education, the decline has slowed and recently
reversed. What's more, a study earlier this year found that one in four
teenage girls has contracted a sexually-transmitted infection (STI).


A growing number of state leaders have seen the light. The Hartford
Courant reports: "A federal tally shows that participation in the [Bush
abstinence] program is down 40 percent over two years, with 28 states
still in. Arizona and Iowa have announced their intention to forgo
their share of the federal grant at the start of the fiscal year that
begins Oct. 1."


Bureaucratic inconsistencies are driving some states out of the
program. But so are poor results, including those in Idaho, where
pregnancies among kids aged 15 to 19 rose from 2,396 in 2004 to 2,543
in 2006.


Congress needs to catch up with these state leaders. Despite the
program's failure, the House Appropriations Committee recently approved
funding for the Bush administration's abstinence-only effort.


For the sake of our kids, it's time for more state leaders to take off
their ideological blinders. If abstinence-only education doesn't help
prevent teen pregnancies, shouldn't we try programs that do? It's time
to move in a new direction.
It's time to call on the remaining states to listen to the facts, and reject abstinence-only funding. Sign our petition to theses states' governors, asking them to do what's best for America's youth.