According to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted in late October, 51 percent of respondents said sex education and birth control were better for reducing teen pregnancies, slightly outnumbering the 46 percent who prefer morality and abstinence.

Younger people were likelier to consider sex education and birth control the better way to limit teenage pregnancies, as were 64 percent of minorities and 47 percent of whites. Nearly seven in 10 white evangelicals opted for abstinence, along with about half of Catholics and Protestants.

Other key findings:

• 67 percent of respondents support providing birth control to students at schools while 62 percent said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies.
• Most supporters of providing birth control to students favor parental consent.
• Minorities, older and lower-earning people were likeliest to prefer requiring parental consent, while those favoring no restriction tended to be younger and from cities or suburbs. People who wanted schools to provide no birth control at all were likelier to be white and higher-income earners.
• 49 percent of respondents say providing teens with birth control would not encourage sexual intercourse and a virtually identical 46 percent said it would.
• Though men and women have similar views about whether to provide contraceptives to students, women are likelier than men to think it will not encourage sexual intercourse, 55 percent to 43 percent.

What do you think of the survey results? Do you think they’re representative of the general population?

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