See abstinence works

In Alabama public schools, students are taught abstinence-based sex education as part of a half credit of health education in high school. Students learn that “abstinence is the only protection against pregnancy, HIV/AIDs and STDs,” said state Department of Education spokeswoman Edith Parten.

Last year in Mobile County, 4,629 new cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported — enough instances of the sexually transmitted diseases to account for one out of every 87 people, according to a Press-Register review of state and federal statistics.

That was about three times the rate in New York City and more than twice as high as Washington, D.C.

Chlamydia has also been on the rise, increasing 44-fold from 509 cases in 1994 to 22,560 in 2006