Virginity pledge

Virginity pledges have been undertaken by over 2.5 million youths. In these pledges children and teenagers promise not to take part in sexual intercourse before marriage.

Various religious groups promote virginity pledges, including the Southern Baptist Convention. Advocates of virginity pledges claim that they are an effective way of combating sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. However, these claims have been questioned by other public health researchers.

Most of the people who take virginity pledges break them at some point in their lives. When that happens, they're less likely to be carrying protection.

External links

• Teens Who Make Virginity Pledges Have Substantially Improved Life Outcomes (from the right-wing Heritage Foundation)
• Do Virginity Pledges Cause Virginity? (from the Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development)
• The Good (and Bad?) News About Virginity Pledges - TIME magazine article on the controversy