If ever there was irrefutable evidence that abstinence education doesn’t quite work, this is it. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control finds that at least one in four U.S. teenage girls is infected with a sexually transmitted disease.


The New York Times:

The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

Nearly half the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study — human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite.

The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers, health officials and researchers said at a news conference at a scientific meeting in Chicago.

Read more

TRUTHDIG’S JOURNALISM REMAINS CLEAR

The storytellers of chaos tried to manipulate the political and media narrative in 2025, but independent journalism exposed what they tried to hide.

When you read Truthdig, you see through the illusion.

Support Independent Journalism.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG