Another idiotic idea from the religious right is debunked yet again:

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.”

There have been countless studies saying the same thing, so this isn’t really new news. As matter of fact, previous reports have said that the teens who take these “pledges” are more likely to engage in the kind of sex that usually becomes a punchline or shown in your favorite adult film. But don’t threat. The whack jobs that push these “virginity pledges” are certain to dismiss this report. Facts are something they can’t comprehend.