The latest episode of Undateable, ‘A Truth Hug Walks Into a Bar,’ has Shelly (Ron Funches) living in a room above the bar. Shelly’s mother lost her job and he gave up his apartment to move back in with her and pay the bills. His friends at the bar decided to ask him to live above the bar to help him out. In order to make the offer of the room into a selfless gesture, the story concocted was that the bar was recently robbed and Shelly would be doing them a favor by providing security.
As Shelly is saying goodnight to all and announcing last call, he is met with a random rant on teen pregnancy from Danny (Chris D’Elia). Perhaps it was brought on by Shelly’s mention of condoms but it seems like an unnecessary swipe at abstinence education.
Shelly: People of Detroit, it is bed time. I'm about to consume this edible and have some crazy dreams. Please finish your drink and decide if you're going to have hot sex with the person you're talking to. Always use condoms. Go Lions.
Justin: See, it's all working out, Danny.
Shelly: Hey, boys. Before I go to bed I have some questions about the robbery, if you don't mind.
Justin: He knows.
Danny: Ha!
Danny:He doesn't know the truth!
Shelly: The truth about what?
Justin: Uh -- the truth about teen pregnancy. Isn't that right? It's a big deal.
Danny: It's a huge deal. That's right. Yeah. Babies born to adolescents has dropped since reaching an all-time high in 1990, but it's still a complex issue that everyone is alarmed about. Research shows knowledge-based programs help decrease teen pregnancy rate, but abstinence without education and birth control does not.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Teen births may be down but even the government – HHS, to be specific – tells us that "U.S. teen birth rate is higher than that of many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.” And nearly 89% of those births are out of wedlock. It is widely accepted that teen pregnancy and out of wedlock births contribute greatly to poverty. The young women often face challenges with finding employment after giving birth as they are at a disadvantage to continue their education.
How is this boast-worthy in normal conversation? It’s not. And it was out of synch with the rest of the story. Just a totally random jab at abstinence only education to cheers and applause.
