Palin Family Has 'Done Enough Damage Already' In Attempts To Combat Teen Pregnancy, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Abortion;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 08 May 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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It was "a terrible, terrible idea" for Neil Cole -- founder of the Candie's Foundation, a teen pregnancy prevention group supported by the Candie's teen apparel company -- to appoint Bristol Palin as the foundation's newest teen ambassador, New York Times columnist Gail Collins writes in an opinion piece. Palin, daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), gave birth in December 2008 after an unintended pregnancy. Collins continues that "when it comes to combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already." There could be no "worse message" than the one that the Palin family delivered at the 2008 Republican convention, which was that "[i]f your handsome but somewhat thuglike boyfriend gets you with child, he will clean up nicely, propose marriage, and show up at an important family event wearing a suit and holding your hand. At which point you will get a standing ovation." Collins adds, "Now a single mom on the outs with the father of her baby, Bristol wants a new kind of happy ending." She writes that during an interview on Wednesday with "Good Morning America," Palin said, "I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say this is the safest choice."

Bristol's own "philosophy seems, at minimum, tentative," Collins writes, adding that it's difficult to determine if "she believes that cheerleading for abstinence should be coupled with education about birth control methods." Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has said that "she opposes 'explicit' sex education, which kind of sounds like ... sex education," Collins writes. However, "while encouraging kids to wait is obviously fine, the evidence is pretty clear that abstinence education is worse than useless," Collins says. She notes that Texas, where nearly every school teaches abstinence only, "is a teen pregnancy disaster zone."

During Bristol Palin's appearance Wednesday at the Candie's Foundation's Event To Prevent teen town hall, she "said very little except to assure her audience that having a baby is no picnic," according to Collins. She writes, "It's hard not to suspect that for her, being the anti-pregnancy ambassador is just a good excuse to get out of Wasilla. But where were her parents?" Collins adds that Sarah Palin "ought to know by now that the only way to protect your family from becoming tabloid fodder is to make it clear to the media that the kids are absolutely off limits." She asks, "What does this say about Sarah Palin's judgment?" Collins concludes that "we've sort of answered that question before" (Collins, New York Times, 5/7).

Palin also discussed teen pregnancy in an appearance Wednesday on NBC's "Today Show" (NBC.com, 5/6).

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