A bad bump in births.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Sometimes a cliche says it best: If one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results, then spending $176 million in public money every year on abstinence-only sex education is insane.

Now the anecdotal evidence is confirming what every credible scientific study has shown for years: Abstinence-only sex education doesn't work, and much of what it tries to teach produces the wrong kind of behavior.

After dropping steadily for more than a decade, the birth rate among teenagers rose 3 percent last year, according to a recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The decline in teen pregnancy rates since 1991 was widely regarded as a major public health victory; its unexpected and significant reversal is deeply troubling.

Data from birth certificates nationwide show that birth rates rose 3 percent among teenagers ages 15 to 17 and 4 percent among those ages 18 and 19. The one bright spot was a continued slight decline in the birth rate for girls 14 and younger.

The largest increase came among black teenagers, whose birth rate rose 5 percent between 2005 and 2006, reaching 63.7 per 1,000 teens. That was particularly disappointing to public health officials because black teens had previously experienced the greatest declines among 15- to 17-year-olds. Birth rate increases were also seen among whites, Hispanics and American Indians. Birth rates among Asian teenagers continued to drop.

The bad news about teen births ought to end the debate in Congress about whether to increase - that's right, increase - funding for abstinence-only programs by $28 million. Earth to Congress: You've wasted $1.5 billion on worthless abstinence-only programs to date and the payoff is an alarming increase in teenage girls having babies.

The most recent nonpartisan study on abstinence-only sex education concluded that, "At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers.

If that $28 million is burning a hole in congressional pockets, it should be spent on comprehensive sex education, which, in addition to abstinence, teaches teens about condom use and birth control.