The announcement that Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Alaska governor Sarah Palin, is... 
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On the other side of the debate are groups such as Abstinence Clearinghouse, which maintain that abstinence-only programs work to reduce risky sex behaviors in teens.
Leslee J. Unruh, founder and president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, says that linking Bristol Palin's situation to the debate on the validity of these approaches is "a cheap shot."
"Abstinence works. It works every single time," she said. "I think it is very unfair to blame the abstinence community and abstinence legislation. ... Blaming sex education for the failures of people who make a mistake is not fair."
The debate over what role the educational system should play in sex education has raged since sex ed programs built around abstinence were first put into practice in 1996. Today, federally funded programs are required to teach that abstinence is the only certain way to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and that a monogamous marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity.
Schools that receive funds are also barred from providing more comprehensive information on contraception or safer sex practices to prevent STDs -- even if nonfederal funds are used for that purpose.
"Since 1996, over $1.5 billion in U.S. tax dollars have been spent on abstinence-only until marriage programs and without having any impact," Conley said. "Governors are paying attention to this huge waste of public money. That's why 25 states, including Alaska -- prior to Gov. Palin's term -- have withdrawn from federal funding under the Title V abstinence-only program."
Wasilla High School, one of the schools that Bristol Palin attended, is one of the country's many schools that promotes an abstinence-based sexual education curriculum. A message left with the school was not returned. But on Tuesday, the Boston Herald reported that Principal Dwight Probasco said the school's sex ed program pushes abstinence, and that the school is barred from distributing contraception.
But Unruh says that the programs cannot necessarily be blamed in the care of Bristol Palin.
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