It's not about denouncing the teen.

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The Centers for Disease Control released a new report today that found that Mississippi �now has the nation�s highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title.� The report found that in 2006, the Mississippi teen pregnancy rate was over 60 percent higher than the national average and increased 13 percent since the year before.
While the new report does not explain why the state�s teen pregnancy rate is increasing, one reason may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. As the Sexuality Information and Education Center explains, Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives:

Mississippi schools are not required to teach sexuality education or sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV education. If schools choose to teach either or both forms of education, they must stress abstinence-until-marriage, including �the likely negative psychological and physical effects of not abstaining.� [�]
If the school board authorizes the teaching of contraception, state law dictates that the failure rates and risks of each contraceptive method must be included and �in no case shall the instruction or program include any demonstration of how condoms or other contraceptives are applied.�

A reporter for ABC News�s Jackson, MS affiliate explained, �The Mississippi Department of Human Services says abstinence is the only birth control that is 100 percent effective. And that�s the only message teens need to hear.� Unfortunately, numerous studies show that abstinence-only education is not effective. As one study found:

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.

Further, a review by the House Oversight Committee found that �80% of the abstinence-only curricula�contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.�
Pregnant teens in Mississippi face few options. Access to facilities that provide abortions in that state is extremely limited. Indeed, because of an unusually effective anti-choice campaign in the legislature, only a single abortion clinic remains open in the state.

UpdateThe report also found that the teen pregnancy rate is rising fastest in Alaska, where Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is a strong proponent of abstinence-only sex ed.

FLORENCE - A 13-year-old Ockerman Middle School student has been charged with threatening George W. Bush, just days before the president is set to throw the first pitch for Reds Opening Day in Cincinnati.

The teen - described by a police investigator as a student of presidential politics - remained in the custody of his mother Tuesday afternoon at their Florence home.

He is extremely well versed in the history of President Bush, Florence police Capt. Linny Cloyd said. In talking with him, you can tell this is a hot-button topic with him.

Cloyd launched an investigation after Florence Mayor Diane Whalen received an anonymous threatening e-mail. Cloyd and Whalen refused to give a more detailed account of the threats or release the e-mails.

As investigators worked to track down the sender, a second e-mail arrived in Whalen's city e-mail account. That e-mail threatened Bush and was also sent to the White House, Vice President Cheney and the Pentagon.

If the teen was just looking for attention, he certainly got it, said Whalen, who doesn't know the teen or his parents. I think the key thing here is you can't ignore any threat in these times.

Cloyd went to the teen's home Monday evening with agents from the FBI and Secret Service.

He is a student of the present administration, Cloyd said. He described the teen as in tune with current political affairs.

We asked him what brought him to this point, Cloyd said. He didn't have an answer he was willing to share with us.

Cloyd said the teen's parents consented to a search of the home, and investigators did not find anything, such as weapons, that led them to believe the teen was intending to carry out the threats.

Investigators seized a computer from the home. Cloyd said additional charges might hinge on what's recovered from the hard drive.

Mom was shocked, Cloyd said. That would lead me to believe, if the parents are politically active, it isn't in the same manner at all. He said the teen acted alone, and there is no evidence anyone else is involved