Grothman believes teenagers don't have sex if he tells them not to have it

Senator Glenn Grothman and the rest of the "Teenagers won't have sex if we say they shouldn't" crowd have introduced a bill to stop 15 and 17-year-olds from gaining access to birth control from the Healthy Women Program. The program does something folks like Grothman say they want to do, it stops abortions from happening by preventing teen pregnancies.

In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about the bill Grothman displays an amazing lack of knowledge by stating:

He called the program as it stands "bad for a variety of reasons," such as the possibility that it encourages sexual activity among teens and enables greater spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

I don't know any teenager that ever decided whether or not to have sex based on a federal program. And does Grothman even know how sexually transmitted diseases are prevented? Besides having teenagers sign a meaningless piece of paper and having the adults stick their heads in the sand? Since we've seen that teenagers that take the "virginity pledges" are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behavior and therefore get sexually transmitted diseases, perhaps it's time for Grothman and others to look at reality and learn that they are actually prevented by using birth control methods like condoms.

A 17-year-old at East High has a better grasp on the facts than Senator Grothman. She had this to say while she testified at a hearing:

Brittany Macaulay, a 17-year-old who attends Madison East High School, said during the hearing that she understood why some of her peers might not feel comfortable talking to their parents about birth control and sex.

"Teens need more access to health care and information, not less," Macaulay said. "This puts the health of me and my peers at great risk."

Perhaps they have parents like Senator Grothman. Would he even be able to have a conversation with a teenage son or daughter about sex? If he did, it would probably go something like this:

Son/Daughter: Dad, can I talk to you about sex?
Grothman: Why? You don't have sex.
Son/Daughter: Well, I've been dating the same person for 6 months now and we have been talking about having sex and we'd like to be responsible about it.
Grothman: I do have some information for you about having sex.
Son/Daughter: Oh good. I really need to talk to you about it.
Grothman: Just sign this piece of paper at the bottom.
Son/Daughter: Ok. What is it?
Grothman: It's a virginity pledge that keeps you from having sex and keeps me from having to have a difficult conversation with you about it.
Son/Daughter: But I am going to have sex, and I would like to talk to you about it so I can be prepared.
Grothman: No, you're not having sex. This piece of paper says you won't.

Is it so hard to imagine that some teenagers would need to seek answers somewhere else? Yes, in a perfect world all parents and teenagers could talk to each other about this and in the end no teenagers would have sex. But since we can't have that perfect world, ever, couldn't we at least hope for legislators that dwell in the real world?