Gordon Clay here. Have you seen a picture of the latest poster child for the Abstinence-Only educational movement? One of the most famous teen moms in recent history, Birstol Palin, gave birth to Tripp in December. She recently spoke on Fox news about getting pregnant while still in high school. While she advocates that teens wait "at least 10 years" before becoming sexually active, she also said that "stopping teen sex is not realistic at all".

As study after study show, an Abstinence-only education doesn't work. Teens taught comprehensive sex education had a significantly lower risk of pregnancy than students who received abstinence-only or no sex education and that teaching about contraception did not increae the risk of sexual activity . They also have confirmed that abstinence-only education did not reduce teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection and did not delay first sex.

The US remains a sex-negative culture and healthy sex education by parents is seldom taught. As a culture, we try to keep our "girls" "little girls" as long as possible, and long after their bodies have become that of a woman.

And yet, in many cultures around the world, Africa and India and especially Roman Catholic countries - Equador and Peru, young girls are acknowledged as full women upon their first menses and start developing the skills to start creating and raising a family. In these countries it is not unusual for a marriage between a 13 year old woman and a 21 year-old man. The point is, once she goes through mensus, she is a woman.

As parents, it's time to take responsibility to teach your teen children that physically, they are adults and need to understand that their bodies are capable of creating children. Think about it.