Value of virginity pledges questioned

BOSTON, May 7 (UPI) -- A conservative women's group in Boston is disputing the findings of a Harvard University study that abstinence pledges have a 50 percent failure rate.

Concerned Women for America says the Harvard study contradicts trends the group has been seeing in recent years, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times Sunday.

A spokesperson for the women's group, Janice Crouse, said young people who sign pledges to save sex for marriage have shown greater resolve to do just that.

The Harvard study analyzed data from the only U.S. government survey that asked about virginity pledges. Researcher Janet Rosenbaum found that 52 percent of those who said they had signed virginity pledges broke their promise within a year.

Virginity pledges were introduced in the early 1990s as part of the Christian Sex Education Project. The goal of the pledges is to reduce teen pregnancy and raise moral values.