Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged

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Now, this problem our red-state brethren are having could perhaps be explained as a function of economics. Poverty seems to correlate with a high incidence of teenage pregnancies, as well as of abortions (and a host of other social and familial ills); in turn, teenage mothers have difficulty acquiring the education and skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

But it could also be viewed as an indicator that whatever is being done in these states--abstinence only programs, faith-based counseling (i.e. shaming), avoidance of the subject in the hope that it will go away-- isn't working all that well.

Some (not I) might say that teenage mothers are OK as long as they're married teenage mothers. But if I had to guess I'd say that many, if not most, of these young women are either unmarried or were married post-pregnancy. So you can see why people in so-called red states believe that the world is going to hell in a handbasket (when maybe it's only their part of the world that's going to hell in a handbasket).

Of course, you could also look at this and say that maybe they ought to clean up their own act before they presume to preach moral values to the rest of us.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7)

What he said.