Religion

But mostly those that support us.

For sex ed and birth control, there are studies giving ironclad support for both sides.

It works like this. You find a place that's suspended easy access to birth control and sex ed. At the time, there's a nationwide increase in unwed births, or at least in that area. Bam. You got your proof.

Or you find a place that's instituted easy access at the same time that there's that same nationwide increase. Oops. Ease of access increases unwanted pregnancies. Both rest on the same flawed understanding of what a confound is.

The numbers go up and down. They do this differently, at times, in different places. Even nationwide surveys confuse, in the interest of saying "I'm right," a secular trend with the more superficial actions taken by schools and government. Nobody likes to say, "Gee, you know, I'm just not that important."

So births are down. Teen sex rates are down. Now, those are connected. But they're not down for all groups. And you know what, they're not down for all groups in the same area in the same school receiving the same education. Gee, you know, we're just not that important.

Take an example that's different but still the same sort of thing. In Colorado, they legalized pot. One side said, "You know, illicit use will go down--now that it's not a banned substance, there'll be less desire for teens to do it." The other said, "OMG, now that you can get it legally, teens will be flooded with the stuff and use rates will skyrocket." Another looked at that "fear" and said, "Way to go, man, lots of toking teens. Cool." What happened? It held constant. Both sides were wrong. Those who were using used; those who weren't, didn't start. (What did change is that those who used used more.)