Surprise—virginity pledges don't work!

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

I consider condom and birth control use to be aspects of sexual behavior, so it seems to me that virginity pledges do make a difference—a negative one, a harmful one. It's time to level with America's moms and dads: It's unlikely that your kids will save themselves until marriage—you didn't, why should they? But if you want to make sure your kids arrive at the altar with a history of STIs and a baby or two in tow... by all means coerce them into taking that "virginity pledge."

Speaking of virginity pledges... wasn't Bristol & Levi's baby due on December 20th? Where's the newest edition to the Palin clan?