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Bristol Palin Encourages Teens to Abstain

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NYC Teens Chide Palin's Abstinence Call

May 7, 2009—

New York City students who heard Bristol Palin's warnings against teen pregnancy say they might consider abstinence, but they wouldn't take advice on it from the young unwed mother.

Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, recently was selected as an ambassador to The Candie's Foundation to help create awareness about the pitfalls of teen pregnancy.

On Wednesday, she carried her message to about 150 teens at a town meeting forum at The Times Center that included "Heroes" actress Hayden Panettiere and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Garza, who was a teen father.

"It's a big flop," said Jerry Kowal, a senior at Solomon Schecter High School in Hartsdale, N.Y., referring to Palin's campaign to get teens to abstain from sex.

"I don't think it's her real opinion," the 17-year-old told ABCNews.com. "She's just trying to help her mother. She said it herself that abstinence education doesn't work. I looked it up."

In a February interview with Fox News' Greta Susteren, Palin talked about how much her life had changed since the birth of then-two month old Trig and how teenage abstinence was "unrealistic."
. . .
Experts blame the increase of teen births on a number of factors, including a rise in highly publicized teen pregnancies (including Palin's), abstinence-only programs and a disproportionate number of pregnancies among minority teenagers.
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So whose bright idea was it to have unwed teenage mother Bristol Palin lecture other teens about abstinence? I can't believe it was her own idea or even that she did it without being compelled to do it. Mom's way of punishing her for disobedience?
 
I don't see the idea as inherently flawed. After all, isn't it common to see ex-addicts (drugs, alcohol, etc.) advocating for abstinence.

However, Palin in particular is flawed in this circumstance. For one, she is on record - as the the kid in the story notes - that abstinence just doesn't work. In addition, her motives and political ties make her pitch suspect.
 
So, there she is on the Today show couch, her father Todd by her side, and Todd is saying that the baby in her arms -- his grandson -- was a mistake. Nice. That tape is going to be around for a long time, and so are others where mom, grand dad or grand ma are calling the kid a "mistake."

What is upsetting to me here isn't even the politics. It is that no one thinks of the kids. The Palin's didn't think of their daughter when she decided to run and thereby expose her daughter's pregnancy. She chose to turn a private family matter into a public cricus...how could that help Bristol or the baby?

Now, Bristol is choosing to be an advocate for abstainence, exposing herself and her baby to public scrutiny...but how can this be good for either mother or child?

I just don't get these decisions. The Andy Wharhol 15 minutes is far more important than the welfare of the child. How can that be.

Of course, its bread and circuses...and it is because we the public love to stare at train wrecks.
 
I don't see anything wrong with it, almost. After all, she can speak from experience of making the mistake not to abstain, and not to be safe when having sex. What her message should be is to abstain from sex, but if you do have sex, have safe-sex. She should realize that abstinence-only education doesn't work because it fails to address the fact that teenagers will still have sex and if they don't know about safe-sex, they could end up making babies or spreading/contracting STD's.

She'd be better off as a spokeswoman for planned parenthood.
 
thaiboxerken said:
I don't see anything wrong with it, almost. After all, she can speak from experience of making the mistake not to abstain, and not to be safe when having sex. What her message should be is to abstain from sex, but if you do have sex, have safe-sex. She should realize that abstinence-only education doesn't work because it fails to address the fact that teenagers will still have sex and if they don't know about safe-sex, they could end up making babies or spreading/contracting STD's.

She'd be better off as a spokeswoman for planned parenthood.
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Unfortunately, that's not what she is saying, at least not now.

But there is a problem with her message. If she says not abstaining was a mistake, she is going to have to be asked, "So would you prefer that you didn't have your baby?" It's a terrible question to get asked, because she can't answer it. If she says she wish she didn't have her baby, that doesn't sound good, considering that she says that she loves being a mother. And if she doesn't regret her baby, then what's wrong with having sex?

I admit that it is a loaded question and unanswerable, but only because she has put herself in a position that she can't answer it.
 
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I'd ask her "don't you think using a condom would've been better than having unprotected sex?"
 
Monster Machine said:
When the practice of abstinence is ignored.

Monster
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Your point? That abstinence only needs a fair chance to work? The only way that abstinence can be made viable as a way to prevent pregnancy is to mount a 24/7 watch over all teens, essentially how it was handled before WWII, and even then it was often enough evaded. Fear of the wrath of god just doesn't cut it anymore, now that parent's don't stand in god's stead. Even appeals to a teen's better interests often go unheeded.

Bristol is only beginning to discover how inconvenient having this child will be, let alone how it effects the child himself. Wait until she has political aspirations of her own, within a party of the religious, perhaps.
 
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There seems to be a correlation between the rise in teen pregnancies in the last 8 yrs and the rise in abstinence-only funding. I wouldn't be surprised to see that the programs are actually causing the trend.
 
"That poor kid. Having a Mom like that can ruin your life. "


Reaching into the third generation....
 
Bristol, apparently, still needs some sex education. I'm willing to give her personal lessons on this.

C'mon, she's hot. Stupid, but hot!
 
Some relevant info.

Here:
AUSTIN – Texas spent a nation-high $17 million last year for abstinence education programs that continue to stir debate about whether classes promoting virginity before marriage work in public schools.

Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms.
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and here
Texas has now officially gone to abstinence-only textbooks. The students are learning the ABCs of sex education without the C. And as Texas, the second-largest book buyer in the country, goes, so may go the nation.

Only one of the four approved books even mentions contraceptives. The altered lessons teach students how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases in many ways -- including "getting plenty of rest" -- but not by using condoms. One actually suggests using latex gloves to avoid contact with blood but says nothing about using latex . . . you get the idea.
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and here
* “In the entire state we found two people that were involved in these programs that had degrees in health education,” Texas A&M researcher, B. E. “Buzz” Pruitt said. “Two of the curricula didn’t contain a single fact.”

This lack of sex education is certainly taking a toll:

* Texas ranks number one in teenage births, costing taxpayers there over $1 billion a year. And 24 percent of those births are not the girl’s first delivery.
* The rate of teenage births in Texas is decreasing at a slower rate than the nation at large.
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Wanna bet that Ms. Palin drags out these facts on her campaign trail.
 
BenBurch said:
Or; "Why didn't you just do oral sex instead?"
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I haven't heard this with Bristol Palin, but it has been brought up with other abstinence nuts. When some woman asked Dan Savage "Don't you agree that abstinence is the only sure-fire method to prevent teenage pregnancy" he says, "No, because there is also oral sex, mutual masturbation, anal sex, among other things." and he mentions that students are even using anal sex to call themselves "abstinent" (he didn't mention gay sex, btw).

I would have loved to have seen the face of the woman when he brought up mutual masturbation.
 
SezMe said:
I don't see the idea as inherently flawed. After all, isn't it common to see ex-addicts (drugs, alcohol, etc.) advocating for abstinence.
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I was thinking the same thing. I just read a story about a girl who lost her arm and got all scarred up from an auto accident she caused while DWI, and now she goes around lecturing people against drinking and driving.

I get that it's done, but I don't get how this comes across to an audience most of whom probably would never have made the bad decisions she made anyway.
 
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