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Study: Teen Pregnancies, STDs Rose under Bush

HeadlineJul 22, 2009

New figures show teen pregnancies and certain sexually transmitted diseases saw a sharp rise during the administration of former President George W. Bush. According to the Centers for Disease Control, teenage pregnancies have risen in half the United States since 2005, reversing a long trend of decline. The number of teenage girls with syphilis also rose by nearly half. A two-decade decline in gonorrhea infections is now on the reverse. And the number of teenage males contracting AIDS has nearly doubled. The Bush administration pursued an evangelically driven policy on sex education that shunned contraception and instead promoted abstinence. Pregnancy and STDs were highest in Southern states, where abstinence education has been most widespread.

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