I respect Obama's statement that the Palins' family troubles are not a matter for the campaigns, but this is certainly a public discussion. Cast in relief is the wisdom and effectiveness of abstinence-only education.
Abstinence-only is a high stakes game. If you can't stick to that tenet, and clearly many/most can't, there is no backstop to pregnancy. When I was taught sex ed, we were repeatedly told that the only way to have safe sex was not to have sex. Abstinence-only advocates think that message is diluted by the rest of the education, which dispells the very real misconceptions teens have about conception and coitus and explains what the risks are and how to avoid them.
I don't know if education about condoms or other contraceptives would have helped in this situation, but wouldn't you have wanted this young woman to have the benefit of that education? (Actually, for all I know, she did have the benefit of it. I don't know what curiculum her school teaches).
And as an aside, I see hypocrisy in the right wing's embrace of Palin through this episode. This is precisely the situation they point to as evidence that abstinence education is necessary. If it were Barack Obama's daughter, they would decry it as the result of a morally bankrupt educational system. And if she decided to keep it, they'd ignore the pro-life angle and talk about the burden teen mothers place on our economy every year. Sure, perhaps McCain wouldn't, but the swift-boaters certainly would. What makes this any different? Palin can't keep her own house in order, why should we give her the spare keys to the White House?
6 comments:
So Mrs. Palin's daughter's sluttiness is off-limits.
Fair enough.
How about her own?
http://www.alan.com/2008/08/29/conservative-family-values/
GILF!
I see hypocrisy in the right wing's embrace of Palin through this episode.
Ask yourself this: is there anything which the Palins (or Conservatives in general) could have done in the past four days which would not have led you to say that?
Palin can't keep her own house in order, why should we give her the spare keys to the White House?
Do you really think that the (legal) actions of one's children should mean this? What exactly are you implying about judging a person by the actions of another?
Flipper: Did you condemn Sen. Edwards or President Clinton when they had affairs "on the clock"? Do you really think that someone else's sex life should be your business?
Megan McArdle says it better than I do.
David,
Yes, I sure did condemn Clinton & Edwards, but neither of them is on the ticket this year.
Someone else's sex life isn't my business. A political candidate's hypocrisy, however, certainly is. Mrs. Palin would have us believe that Abstinence Education is more effective than Sex Education, despite her own examples to the contrary. McCain would like us to think he's a Green candidate, despite his failure to support extending tax credits for renewable energy.
Why can't people see through it?
Flipper: given that your first comment was about the "sluttiness" of Gov Palin and her daughter, I find your statement that "Someone else's sex life isn't my business" to be a bit rich.
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