Bristol Palin Deserves Better

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston have broken up. Republicans will continue to support abstinence-only education and make rants against fictional unwed mothers.

In 2007, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found unwed mothers made a record of 38.5 percent of all births. out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies also spiked. The abstinence-only policy of the Bush administration was failing. Tony Perkins went in defense mode.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins expressed his worries and stated that the so-called comprehensive protective effect of condoms promotes unsafe behavior. This results in an increase in STD (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) rates in young people, and an increase in out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies.

Tony Perkins said,” What we’re really witnessing are the effects of contraceptive-focused sex education, often labeled as comprehensive sex education”. Tony Perkins further comments, “When people talk about ‘abstinence until marriage,’ both parts are important”.

Columnist Maggie Gallagher was paid $21,500 by the Department of Health and Human Services to promote Bush's marriage initiative in 2002. Gallagher was paid to promote abstinence until marriage. The scandal would have gotten Gallagher fired from most American publications. (Tucker Carlson was booed by stating the need for the conservative media to have ethical standards.) Gallagher's editor Rich Lowry did not see any reason to fire Gallagher.

"We would have preferred that she told us, and we would have disclosed it in her bio." Lowry told Howard Kurtz.

Gallagher is writing for the Washington Times. She weighed in on Bristol Palin's Fox News interview.

Note: I wonder if Bristol really thinks sexual virtue is harder these days than it was, say, 30 years ago when her mom and I were teenagers. That would be circa 1979. I could tell Bristol some stories - the sexual revolution has been swinging pretty hard for a good long time now.

Gallagher goes on to write: "Is it really wise for an entire society to adopt the point of view of the average inarticulate 18-year-old kid?"

Did Gallagher actually watch the interview? I'm sure it was hard for Bristol to talk to a national television audience for the first time. Here were my thoughts about Bristol's interview.

I am glad Bristol Palin did the Fox News interview. She proved herself to be a very intelligent young woman. It was surprising to hear her say abstinence doesn't work. Bristol's mother, Sarah Palin supports abstinence-only sex education and has presidential ambitions. Bristol used her television time to tell other teens to wait before having a child.

Bristol has a good head on her shoulders. It is nice to see a real person and not a symbol for teen pregnancy. We need to understand issues affect the lives of Americans. The rhetoric of talk radio and cable news turns every issue into an us vs them event.

The abstinence-only advocates Perkins and Gallagher barely view young women, such as Bristol Palin, as real people. Gallagher's "I wonder if Bristol really thinks sexual virtue is harder these days" snark is evidence that social conservatives view unwed mothers with contempt. Miss Gallagher, Bristol Palin is the the one with the problem.