Editorials, Opinion Pieces Comment On Palin, Daughter's Pregnancy, Abstinence-Only Sex Education

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 04 Sep 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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Several newspapers recently published editorials and opinion pieces on the announcement by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who opposes abortion rights, will be his vice presidential running mate. Editorials and opinion pieces also discussed Palin's announcement that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Summaries appear below.

Editorials

~ USA Today: Abstinence-only education "in an ideal world...would be sufficient," but in the "real world, the one of raging hormones and a highly sexualized pop culture," the programs are ineffective, a USA Today editorial says. According to the editorial, the "most successful" sex education programs are those that offer a "combination of sex education and abstinence counseling," the editorial says, adding, "You tell your children not to drink, but you also teach them that if they do, they shouldn't drive" (USA Today, 9/3).

~ Wall Street Journal: After news of Bristol Palin's pregnancy, "every American can appreciate the difficulty of the personal decisions" the Palin family has had to make, "but voters do assess the character of candidates, especially for high executive office, and for social conservatives in particular that inevitably includes how they conduct themselves on some private matters," a Journal editorial says. The editorial concludes, "Whatever one thinks of Mrs. Palin's candidacy or of her pro-life views, every American can appreciate the difficulty of the personal decisions she and her family have had to make -- and admire the sight of a family that has the courage of its convictions" (Wall Street Journal, 9/2).

Opinion Pieces

~ Linda Hirshman, Slate: That Bristol Palin would "get pregnant at all reminds us that any teenage girl is at risk" and that "moment of risk will now determine much of the rest" of her life, with "every statistical indicator" saying that "it will not be for the better," Hirshman, author of the book "Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World," writes in a Slate opinion piece. Remaining nonjudgmental about Bristol Palin's choice "shouldn't preclude us from talking about what the world might look like when the only choice teenage girls have is to bear and beget a child," Hirshman writes, concluding, "For the millions of women each year who do not want to make that choice, and for the parents who do not want that fate for their daughters, the cruelty of the Republican position on abortion rights is now graphically laid bare" (Hirshman, Slate, 9/2).

~ Valerie Huber, USA Today: Abstinence-only education "has never been more needed" as schools are "capitulating to the cultural 'sex without consequences' view by focusing on explicit condom usage instruction instead of providing teens real life skills to avoid sexual experimentation," Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, writes in a USA Today opinion piece. The "real issue" is the number of teens who "have chosen not to be sexually active because of the empowerment of abstinence education," Huber writes, concluding, "Reproductive biology is stunningly bipartisan, and we should not forfeit the best teen health message of abstinence in the game of politics" (Huber, USA Today, 9/3).

~ John Kass, Chicago Tribune: "The use of children as a weapon" in political races "leaves a terrible stain," Tribune columnist Kass writes in an opinion piece. According to Kass, news of Bristol Palin's pregnancy "most likely would have come out anyway, given the determination of Sarah Palin's opponents to make her out to be a hypocrite," but the "way it became public was cruel" (Kass, Chicago Tribune, 9/2).

~ Colbert King, Washington Post: McCain's "objective" in naming Palin his running mate is "to pound a wedge between Obama and a significant part of the Democratic Party's base -- women," Post columnist King writes in an opinion piece. The possibility that some of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y). "most ardent Democratic supporters, angered by her defeat," would possibly vote for McCain "makes about as much sense as swallowing hemlock," King writes. McCain "supports overturning Roe v. Wade" and would "appoint Supreme Court justices who would happily strike down women's reproductive rights and turn loose the government on its citizens in the name of national security," King writes, adding that McCain's "conservative spots haven't changed one bit" (King, Washington Post, 8/30).

~ Ruth Marcus, Washington Post: Palin's daughter's pregnancy is "intertwined with an important public policy debate" and might be the "ultimate teachable moment" in the debate about sex education, Post columnist Marcus writes in an opinion piece. "The best, most attentive parenting and the best, most comprehensive sex education won't stop teenagers from doing dumb things," Marcus writes, adding, "The most we as parents can hope for is to insulate our children, as best we can, from the consequences of their own stupidity" (Marcus, Washington Post, 9/2).

~ Carol Marin, Chicago Sun-Times: Bristol Palin is a "private person with a public mother" and "[w]e have no right invading this young woman's life," Sun-Times columnist Marin writes in an opinion piece. "But we have every right and responsibility in this presidential campaign to question John McCain and Sarah Palin and about the Bush administration's attacks on family planning and how, if at all, they would change it," Marin writes. "Choice means deciding to take a pregnancy to full term as Bristol Palin has," Marin writes, adding, "Choice means deciding not to. Sarah Palin is courting female voters. She needs to talk to women about this" (Marin, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/2).

~ Ronnie Polaneczky, Philadelphia Daily News: It is "disingenuous" for the Palin family "to expect privacy as they deal with Bristol's impending motherhood," given Sarah Palin's support for abstinence-only sex education, Daily News columnist Polaneczky writes in an opinion piece, adding that he "can't help thinking of all the 17-year-old teens as sexually active as Bristol obviously is who deserve to learn about all methods of birth control, not just abstinence." According to Polaneczky, if such teens "find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy, they won't have the safety net of a financially comfortable and emotionally supportive family beneath them," concluding, "Who'll back them up when [abstinence-only education] fails them, because they didn't learn enough to make a different choice?" (Polaneczky, Philadelphia Daily News, 9/2).

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