Highly religious states have top teen birth rates
A new study shows that states that skew towards more conservative religious beliefs tend to have higher rates of teenage girls giving birth. (Shocking, I know.)
Researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh says,"We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."
Now, obviously studies like these have the whole correlation/causation issue going on - but from the work I did write The Purity Myth, this study makes sense to me.
If you grow up in an area where you're taught that sex is bad and contraception is evil (and that it can kill you), when you do have pre-marital sex - as 95% of Americans will - you're much less likely to protect yourself. Not only because you've been taught that condoms cause cancer and other such ridiculousness, but also because you may think that if sex happens in the heat of the moment - and you didn't plan for it like a bad, slutty girl - you're not as tainted.
Posted by Jessica - September 21, 2009, at 08:31AM
http://www.feministing.com/archives/017841.html
These very same people tend to be the least educated as well. There is something in nearly all religions that suggests that education, open mindedness, and open inquiry are inherently evil. They are taught certain core beliefs from birth upon which to base all other beliefs. And these core beliefs are fallacious myths which are expected to be accepted by faith. Reaching these people with factual information is like trying to strike a match under water.
