Jackson Free Press

"The problem is teenagers do not care enough about using (birth control)."

—Gov. Phil Bryant to reporters Nov. 29, after reportedly saying that Mississippi's teens have all the contraception information they need.

Why it stinks: This is a classic "blame the victim" statement. Bryant was speaking at an event concerning Mississippi's teen birth rate, which is the highest in the nation.

For years, Mississippi's answer to the state's epidemic of kids having kids has been to teach abstinence before marriage, an ideological stance devoid of evidence-based information on contraception, pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

This "just say no" approach has proven to be a dismal failure.

"[T]he reality is that many teens choose to forgo contraception because they are grossly misinformed about how effective it is," states the Care2.com website. "According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of teen mothers decided not to use birth control when they became sexually active because they just didn't believe they could get pregnant.

"And that lack of education about effective contraception is a direct result of the abstinence-only education programs that Bryant supports. Studies have confirmed that when students aren't given comprehensive, medically accurate information about how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, they end up with serious gaps in their sexual education."