What a Tripp

A "shocking" study was released which showed that abstinence promises often get broken. In Study: 'Virginity pledges' are ineffective, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report was published in the journal Pediatrics, which noted:

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

They could have saved a lot of time & effort. Growing up Catholic in the age of abstinence, I can attest that many teen followers of virginity pledges were often called mommy. I lucked out, but many of my friends were not so fortunate. As they say, love (and lust) conquers all.

Instead of reading the report, just see the latest example of Exhibit "A" -- Bristol Palin Baby Son Tripp Born. The Huffington Post reports that that font of all the news that's fit for gossip, People Magazine, is spreading the word:

Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, gave birth on Sunday to a healthy 7 lb., 4 oz., baby boy in Palmer, Alaska.

This is a case of first comes love, then comes the baby carriage. So, any bets on whether marriage follows after?