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Bristol Palin Backtracks on Abstinence Views
Filed under: Celeb Kids, In The News
Bristol Palin, daughter of Sarah and mother of Tripp, recently made headlines after voicing her opinion about abstinence. A teen mother herself, Bristol told Greta Van Susteren back in February that "everyone should be abstinent, but it's just not realistic at all." Although she admitted that she now wishes she had waited, she acknowledged that sex is "more and more accepted" among her peers.
At the time, I admired Bristol for speaking what she believed to be the truth despite the fact that her opinion was in direct conflict with her mother's own abstinence-only views. I thought she showed great strength in doing so and was hopeful that her story might actually serve to help prevent other teens from making the same mistake.
I even thought it was commendable that Governor Sarah Palin wasn't trying to force her daughter to keep quiet and walk the party line. But in an interview with Good Morning America's Christopher Cuomo, Bristol Palin backtracked on her earlier statements and has now jumped on the abstinence-only bandwagon.
"Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy," she says.
I won't argue that - contraception does occasionally fail whereas abstinence is always 100% effective in preventing pregnancy. However, contrary to what she said before, she now claims that she believes abstinence is totally doable for the average teen. "I do think it's realistic. It's the harder choice, but it's the safest choice," she says.
I could speculate for days on just why Bristol Palin changed her tune but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is the mixed message she is sending teens. Her pregnancy wasn't the result of failed contraception. It was the result of failed abstinence. And despite her claim that as a teen mother she is "relatable" to other teens, she doesn't seem to be using that experience to bring anything new to the abstinence-only discussion.
When asked how her new found views square with her own experience with failed abstinence, she admits she doesn't know. "I'm not quite sure, I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say, this is the safest choice. This is the choice that's going to prevent teen pregnancy and prevent a lot of heartache." It seems she is promoting the "just say no" method and doesn't even know why.
And while Bristol's motivation to join the abstinence-only brigade may not matter much to me, it does to her audience. In her brand new role as an Abstinence Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, she recently spoke at a town meeting forum in New York. After hearing her talk, a teen audience member declared her abstinence campaign to be a "big flop." "I don't think it's her real opinion," says Jerry Kowal. "She's just trying to help her mother. She said it herself that abstinence education doesn't work. I looked it up."
Palin Family Album
Bristol Palin has changed her mind about abstinence; she's back on board and is speaking out about why teens should not have sex. Palin and ex-fiance Levi Johnston are the parents of a baby boy, Tripp, born in December.
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images
"We both love each other," Levi Johnston, 18, told the AP in a rare interview about his relationship with 18-year-old Bristol Palin. "We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."
Paul Sancya, AP
Levi Johnston called himself a "redneck' on his MySpace page.
Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd have five children with short, masculine and certainly unique names: Track, 19, Bristol, 18, (with Levi Johnston), Willow, 14, Piper, 7, and Trig, 8 months (not pictured). Read More
Fredy Perojo, AOL
Sarah Palin initially hid her pregnancy with Trig from the public, causing rumors that Trig was her grandson via Bristol.
Win McNamee, Getty Images
Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband Todd, and daughters Bristol,16, right, and Piper, 5, at the end of a 2006 inauguration ceremony in Fairbanks. Palin, 42, is the first female and youngest governor of Alaska.
Al Grillo, AP
"Trig is beautiful and already adored by us," read a statement by the Palin when Trig was born on April 18. "We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."
Paul J. Richards, AFP / Getty Images
"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned," the Palins's statement said when they announced her pregnancy. "As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows that she has our unconditional love and support."
Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images
Chuck Heath, 70, (pictured with wife Sally), Sarah Palin's father, said gift boxes for his newest grandson are piling up in the governor's mail room from all over the world. There's no way the family will ever be able to answer every letter, he said, although they are trying.
Charlie Neibergall, AP
Then-Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, her daughters, Piper, Willow, and husband Todd walk out onto the ice to drop the ceremonial first puck before a St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings hockey game.
Whitney Curtis, Getty Images
At the time, I admired Bristol for speaking what she believed to be the truth despite the fact that her opinion was in direct conflict with her mother's own abstinence-only views. I thought she showed great strength in doing so and was hopeful that her story might actually serve to help prevent other teens from making the same mistake.
I even thought it was commendable that Governor Sarah Palin wasn't trying to force her daughter to keep quiet and walk the party line. But in an interview with Good Morning America's Christopher Cuomo, Bristol Palin backtracked on her earlier statements and has now jumped on the abstinence-only bandwagon.
"Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy," she says.
I won't argue that - contraception does occasionally fail whereas abstinence is always 100% effective in preventing pregnancy. However, contrary to what she said before, she now claims that she believes abstinence is totally doable for the average teen. "I do think it's realistic. It's the harder choice, but it's the safest choice," she says.
I could speculate for days on just why Bristol Palin changed her tune but that doesn't really matter. What does matter is the mixed message she is sending teens. Her pregnancy wasn't the result of failed contraception. It was the result of failed abstinence. And despite her claim that as a teen mother she is "relatable" to other teens, she doesn't seem to be using that experience to bring anything new to the abstinence-only discussion.
When asked how her new found views square with her own experience with failed abstinence, she admits she doesn't know. "I'm not quite sure, I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say, this is the safest choice. This is the choice that's going to prevent teen pregnancy and prevent a lot of heartache." It seems she is promoting the "just say no" method and doesn't even know why.
And while Bristol's motivation to join the abstinence-only brigade may not matter much to me, it does to her audience. In her brand new role as an Abstinence Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, she recently spoke at a town meeting forum in New York. After hearing her talk, a teen audience member declared her abstinence campaign to be a "big flop." "I don't think it's her real opinion," says Jerry Kowal. "She's just trying to help her mother. She said it herself that abstinence education doesn't work. I looked it up."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2009 @ 12:59PM
Penny Raine said...And none of us ever waivered when we were 17 or 18 or even 25? It is perfectly normal at that age and at any age to think something is too hard, ony to later realize it can be done. If her change of mind were about any other subject it would be seen as new courage.
blessings, Penny Raine
http://pennyraine.com/blog
Reply
5-19-2009 @ 7:47AM
Horatio said...Your comments make absolutely no sense.
5-12-2009 @ 3:29PM
LS said...Hmmm... interesting that Bristol, who is what, 18? and a private citizen, Is bashed for changing her opinion based on her recent experience, but our PRESIDENT can change his mind to suit the circumstance (sometimes twice in one day, based on his campaign speeches), and he is showered with praise and adulation.
It's never come to pass that, after we became moms, we looked back at the things we'd said as recently as during our pregnancy, and thought, "well, geez, THAT was stupid!'
Perhaps Bristol believed all along that abstinence was the right thing, and had a lapse in judgment. Is she not allowed that? Our President is. Our Vice President is. So is the Secretary of State and her most famous philandering husband. Everyone is allowed mistakes. And perhaps, during that previous interview, she felt pressured to say that abstinence was not the way to go. Has anyone thought of that? Or is it just the way things are... to bash her because her mom is Sarah Palin, and they are a conservative family, and we don't have to be tolerant of them?
Please stop bashing her. She is a young lady who is trying to make the best of a difficult situation, just like every other young (and old) mother on the planet.
Further, to hang the hopes of changing an entire generation on her shoulders is a little much, don't you think? I know a few young "ladies" - ones who think nothing of having sex with two or three different guys in a weekend, but then agonize over whether they know those same guys well enough to go out to dinner with them. After all, that's a *date* and that's pretty intimate. Sex isn't. And that's an entire generation for you. It's not Bristol's fault. It's the fault of all of us, who go on with "abstinence isn't realistic, here's a condom, here's a pill".
When did it become against the norm to have high standards and high expectations? Sex should be saved until you can afford the child it is designed to produce.
Reply
5-17-2009 @ 4:11PM
CM said...Calling to attention facts is not bashing. I'm so tired of that word being used whenever someone doesn't agree with something.
5-13-2009 @ 10:48AM
Katty said...I don't think she should be criticized for changing her mind, but I find it interesting that a young lady who came from a house that touted abstinence as "THE" rule for sex, but ended up making a different choice and getting pregnant should continue to tout abstinence as the way to go, because in her case, it obviously did not work.
What everyone should learn is that children need to be taught to make a decision based on all the information and that abstinence ONLY does not work.
Reply
5-13-2009 @ 11:42AM
Sandyone said..."abstinence ONLY does not work."
Huh? Every single time that I have not had sex, I have not gotten pregnant. Every single time.
If you're not sexually active, you're not going to get pregnant. Really.
I think Bristol Palin wants abstinence to be promoted and I suspect that she wishes that she actually had believed that it was a worthwhile pursuit. (heh, heh...In Pursuit of Abstinence). She's telling kids, "Hey, they were right...abstinence is the best way to go. Make it work. Make sure you follow it, because if you don't, you are setting yourself up for a lot of heartache." Palin is only now seeing *why* kids shouldn't have sex. It's not just the baby, but she's seen her relationship with "the man she loved" disintegrate, after having given herself to him.
In our society, the people who promote no sex outside of marriage are portrayed as out of touch and unreasonable. Our kids are told, all of the time, that sex outside of marriage is ok, and even a good thing. Perhaps if they heard from more than little old ladies, they would know that abstinence is an outstanding option and not at all impossible. Difficult, but not impossible.
The problem with unmarried sex isn't just possible pregnancy or STDs. Those are just the most tangible problems, but the other problems are far more damaging. It's a shame that we tend to focus only on pregnancy and STDs.
5-15-2009 @ 10:36AM
Trish said...I wish that EVERYONE including and especially her mother would leave this poor Bristol Palin alone. She made a mistake. She had sex and she had unprotected sex. At her age both were a mistake. And she's paying a huge price for it. Raising a child is hard.
Being a kid herself and in the public eye and being used as a poster child by anyone for the failures of abstinence only education or the benefits of abstinence-only education is just really very sad.
Just leave her alone. She's a kid with a kid living under a microscope. I feel sorry for her and the baby's father.
Reply
5-16-2009 @ 10:41AM
Trisha said...Why is abstinence so unrealistic? By saying so, it gives kids the equivalent of a "go ahead and have sex 'cause it's too hard to resist" message from parents.
I was abstinent until I got married. Shocking huh.
It shouldn't be, it's not hard. It's a lifestyle choice.
Of course teenagers should practice abstinence. It's not expecting too much to teach the that it's the right way to live. It's not just about pregnancy either, or stds. It's also about teenagers being too young for sexual relationships.
Also, teenagers know to use condoms to not get pregnant. But for whatever reasons, they aren't using them consistently. Obviously. They just think they are invincible, that they will take their chances, or that they actually want to get pregnant.
It's not like teenagers being taught that abstinence only have never heard of condoms and that abstinence is "unrealistic" and so they all will just get pregnant because parents didn't supply them with condoms.
We should be raising a more moral generation, with standards, not excuses.
Reply
7-10-2009 @ 4:37PM
Swagger said......who cares, bristol is sexy!
Reply