NON - CREDIBLE

Purists claim it is down to policies promoting abstinence, which have been heavily backed by the Bush government.
But family planning services argue 88% of those who make the pledge break the pledge, so it must be down to condoms and safe sex education.
Given that the number of under-18s who became pregnant in England and Wales rose from 40,966 in 2001 to 41,868 in 2002, what can the UK learn from the US?
By 2010, pregnancy rates in under 18s in England will have to have dropped by 50% under targets set by the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.
Conception rates in under 16s should also follow a downward trend, the government has said.







An analysis by researchers at the Alan Guttmacher Institute in the US found about a quarter of the decline in teenage pregnancy between 1988 and 1995 was due to more teenagers abstaining from sex.

The message of abstinence is universal and has a universal effect on reducing teenage pregnancies.
Matthew Staver from Liberty Counsel
How effective are abstinence pledges?
The remaining three-quarters of the drop resulted from a decrease in pregnancy rates among sexually active teenagers.
This decline was caused by more effective contraceptive use.
But Matthew Staver, from the conservative US Christian group Liberty Counsel, believes the more recent decline is down to teenagers waiting until they are married before they have sex.