Abstinence of Malice

By Bill Maher

In this campaign season of “authenticity” and “telling it like it is,” isn’t it time we told teenagers who are watching porn on their iPhones and banging on their parents’ beds after school what the deal is with sex? President Obama thinks so and he removed abstinence-only sex education funding from the 2017 budget.

Here’s what we know after spending three decades and almost $2 billion telling teens “just don’t do it”: it doesn’t work. Abstinence only sex education has been proven to not reduce teen pregnancies or STDs while comprehensive sex education has. We’ve been whistling in the dark – only that’s not whistling, it’s the sound of zippers coming down.

The Republicans’ view on sex education and, for that matter, abortion rights is moralist: “If you’re a slut who can’t keep your legs together, you deserve to be saddled with a baby.” They claim to care deeply about the unborn fetus, but aren’t they just using it as a political football to punish fornicators?

The Democrats’ view on sex education and birth control is realist: “Since you’re a human mammal coming into your biologically-driven sexually active years, here are the facts you may need to know about how things work, the risks involved and the preventative measures.”

As always, the Republican view is based on some ideological, best-case-scenario stand where unmarried people just stay celibate, gays just repent, more guns just keep us safer and businesses left unregulated always do the right thing. And the Democrats’ view at least recognizes reality.