Abstinence always works?

Hi, all. This is my first post 😀 (though I’ve commented on things a few times). Part of me hates to make it a rant, but part of me loves it.

So, a few days ago I saw something that really made my blood boil. I was in the car, coming back from Costco, when I saw a giant orange billboard with nothing written on it but "Abstinence always works" in huge block letters. I normally don’t get riled up too much by things like that, but for some reason I was really infuriated this time. It seemed so ridiculous to me, this billboard put up on a random urban street somewhere that was spewing this… lie. I can’t think of a better word to say it. Abstinence always works? Are they kidding me? It’s fairly obvious that these things are targetted at teenagers, but that message couldn’t sound more out of date. It’s very patronizing and I don’t know anyone my age (high school) that would actually believe that. Of course, I live in a really liberal area of MD, so that might change things. But up until now, I was convinced that this message was a pitiful attempt to conform people into a false and idealistic way of thinking.

But then I realized that they were right. Encouraging abstinence always works. It works to misinform people about their morality and self-worth, it works to unprepare people for the fact that it doesn’t always work, and it works to leave them stranded when (surprise) it doesn’t work. And it works to create a situation in which if you have sex, you will either get an STD (because who needs education about how to prevent diseases when you have abstinence) or have a baby (because contraceptives are immoral and unnecessary, to say nothing of abortion). It works to create a culture where people are deserted and left ignorant for not following someone else’s unrealistically high personal standards.

And I couldn’t help think, what if it were the other way around? Would a billboard be allowed that said "Abstinence doesn’t work"? I may be wrong, and it may depend on the area, but I don’t think so. And why is that? Why is it that these ridiculous oversimplifications of life are allowed a megaphone but realistic alternatives that actually deal with real problems are so often frowned upon? Sure, abstinence works if you don’t have sex. But when over 95% of Americans have shown that abstinence doesn’t always work, we need a new philosophy.

Has anyone else seen these billboards? What group/organization are they from? What is your response?