According to the New York Times, teen pregnancies are up for the first time since 1991, leading some to question whether the Bush administration’s $176-million-per-year abstinence-only sex ed programs are working. One doctor is quoted as saying,

Spending tens of million of tax dollars each year on programs that hurt our children is bad medicine and bad public policy.

Seems to me that this erroneously assumes that the goal of the programs is to reduce the number of teen pregnancies. I mean, come on, think about who we’re dealing with here. The purpose of the programs is to punish teens who have sex. If teen pregnancies are up, then the programs are working.