Young Americans who pledge abstinence have the same rates of STDs as those who do not, a new study says.

I thought I had lost the entry below, so here's another version of the same argument:

Burying your head in the sand is no way to tackle the very real problem of sexual activity in teens. Talk about how to teach them to protect themselves without seeming to give them a license. Talk to them about the benefits of abstinence until you find the right person. Help them. But don't expect them to be perfect, or to do exactly what you want them to do. They are human beings too, you know. It's a shame that the kids who take on the challenge of abstinence suffer from the same STD rates as those who don't, simply becasue their adults equated abstinence with ignorance. If these kids were made to realize their fallibility and were prepared too, imagine how much anguish would have been prevented...