Last year, the teen birth rate rose for the first time since 1991, according to a report released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among teenagers 15-19, the birth rate went up 3% from 2005 to 2006.

Unsurprisingly, these findings raise major questions about the effectiveness of the Bush administration’s abstinence-only sex ed programs—looks like we’re not getting much for the $176 million the federal government pours into such programs each year. The CDCP report comes on the heels of a major study of abstinence-only programs that

failed to demonstrate that they have any effect on delaying sexual activity among teenagers, and some studies suggest that they may actually increase pregnancy rates.

Robert Rector, a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow, said implicating abstinence-only programs in the rising teen birth rate is “stupid.” Always good to see a right-winger’s perspective on the mess he helped create.