Bristol Palin: Abstinence-Only Plan Doesn’t Work
Last fall, Bristol Palin became a controversial figure in her mother Sarah Palin's vice presidential bid when it was revealed, not long after the elder Palin took to the campaign trail, that the teenaged Bristol was pregnant by her high school boyfriend. Now Bristol has re-emerged to make a few comments that run against her mom's approach to teen sex ed.
Last fall, Bristol Palin became a controversial figure in her mother Sarah Palin’s vice presidential bid when it was revealed, not long after the elder Palin took to the campaign trail, that the teenaged Bristol was pregnant by her high school boyfriend. Now Bristol has re-emerged to make a few comments that run against her mom’s approach to teen sex ed.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…CNN:
Her parents insisted that she and her boyfriend hash out a “game plan” immediately. And now her parents and relatives are all pitching in to help take care of the child, particularly when Bristol is at school during the day.
[Fox News’ Greta] Van Susteren was delicate with the teenager but pointedly asked if “contraception is an issue here.”
“Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have philosophical or religious opposition to it,” Van Susteren asked.
Bristol quickly answered that she didn’t want to get into specifics. The best option is abstinence, the teen said, but added that she didn’t think that was “realistic.”
While her mother was running for vice president, the teenager said her treatment in the media was “evil.” She said she read some of the tabloids that wrote about her. People didn’t understand, she said, and some media reports perpetuated falsehoods about her experience.
“They thought that, like, my mom was going to make me have the baby, and it was my choice to have the baby,” she said. “And it’s just — that kind of stuff just bothered me.”
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lists the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education, a pro-abstinence program aimed at middle and high schoolers, as one of almost three dozen "evidenced-based" sex education programs that qualify as effective in preventing teenage pregnancy.
Sarah Palin's strict views have turned her into a grandma for the second time; al-Qaida takes a page out of Disney's book to recruit children; meanwhile, Facebook fights Google+ by adding news to its online community. These discoveries and more after the jump.
A girl can gain a lot of wisdom from adversity, and, as a teen mom and as Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin has no doubt encountered some life challenges in just 19 years. But is that hard-won knowledge worth $30,000 a pop?
Another day, another Capitol Hill sex scandal: On Tuesday, Congressman Mark Souder, a pro-life and pro-abstinence Republican from Indiana, announced that he was resigning after admitting he'd had an affair with a female staffer The woman in question (continued).
This isn't going to sound all that shocking, but remember that this country is still wrapping its head around evolution: Criminalizing abortion does not reduce the number of abortions; it reduces the number of safe abortions. Contraception, however, does reduce abortions, according to an epic study of 197 countries.
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