The most recent statistics are dismal: More girls under 15 give birth in Houston than in any other American city. And of all the births in Houston, those to teen mothers account for 13 percent.

We need to face the obvious: Teenagers are having sex. And some of them are having it in middle school — with repercussions, both public and private, that will last for generations.

Sex education is parents' job, of course. But those astounding numbers show that many parents need help. Our schools need to discuss sex and contraception — and they need to discuss it starting in middle school.

Most schools don't. Earlier this year, a study by Texas Freedom Network found that other than urging abstinence, 94 percent of Texas schools tell their students nothing about sex. That approach clearly isn't working: Texas ranks third in the nation in teen births (behind New Mexico and Mississippi), and our rate is increasing.

The Society for Adolescent Medicine, a national group for health care providers serving teens, argues forcefully in favor of “comprehensive sexuality education,” the kind that includes information about contraceptives.

Unlike abstinence-only programs, comprehensive sex ed not only helps teenagers to delay intercourse, but makes them more likely to use condoms if they don't delay.

To our state's shame, the 2009 Legislature didn't pass a law that would have required schools to provide “medically accurate” information about contraception, in addition to promoting abstinence. Next session, we need to pass that law.

Parents should be able to opt out of school sex ed for their kids. But the default should be straight talk about sex: Not just about condoms and plumbing, but about pregnancy and birth, sexually transmitted diseases, and the flood of emotions that sex unleashes. That knowledge is powerful: The more a 14-year-old knows, the better the odds that she'll make the right decision and wait.

Or at the very least, that she'll make a less awful decision and use a condom.