Larry Liston, a state representative in Colorado, called pregnant teens “sluts” at a Republican caucus lunch yesterday:

“In my parents’ day and age, [unmarried teen parents] were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are,” Republican Rep. Larry Liston said during a GOP legislative caucus meeting in Denver. “There was at least a sense of shame.”

Liston continued: “There's no sense of shame today. Society condones it ... I think it's wrong. They're sluts. And I don't mean just the women. I mean the men, too.”

Classy. He was talking to health professionals from the area, convened to discuss the state’s poor adolescent health care system and teen birth rate. Colorado’s teen birth rate is ranked 36th in the nation, and apparently some of its lawmakers don't know the difference between making babies and protected sex.

Liston later noted that his real point was more about governmental permissiveness than sluttiness—he’s worried that there’s no government disincentive to deter teenagers from having multiple babies. Still, trying to “shame” young men and women into premarital abstinence seems less effective than providing them with quality, comprehensive sex education.

via Feministing.