Senator Obama is taking the high road, refusing to use the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s daughter as political fodder. If he did so, it would be a “no win” situation, making Obama look like he’s attacking an innocent girl. The Senator’s decision is admirable; but still there is a political dimension to this pregnancy and someone’s got to talk about it. So here goes.
Governor Palin is an ultra-conservative and such people don’t just oppose abortion. They oppose birth control of any kind including the form of birth control known as information. Ultra-conservatives disapprove of any sex education that includes references to condoms, the pill or any other kind of birth control. Sex, they believe, is for reproduction only and only when one is married to a person of the opposite sex. Ultra-conservatives will fight funding for any program that focuses on anything but abstinence.
So it’s likely that Governor Palin’s daughter never received sex education beyond “just say no.” Is it a surprise that she got pregnant? Palin told the world: “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.” With proper counseling, Bristol wouldn’t have had to grow up quite so fast and become enmeshed in a marriage that she might bitterly regret some years hence.
And what of HIV? If my theory is correct and Bristol received no information regarding protection, an unplanned pregnancy could have been the least of her worries. By denying her information, Bristol’s “loving” parents may well have condemned her to death. Is this God’s will? I submit for your consideration the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”
Denying one’s child information that might prevent her early demise is moral, if not legal murder. If the Palins did indeed take an “abstinence only” approach, then they have broken God’s law. If Governor Palin supports a political agenda that forces all government programs to follow the same “abstinence only” plan, then many “beautiful daughters,” not to mention handsome sons, may lose their lives for lack of information.
Do we want our children to die before their time? If the answer is “no” then Bristol Palin’s pregnancy becomes an issue that is gravely political.
Tags: Bristol Palin, John McCain and birth control, John McCain/Sarah Palin and reproductive rights, John McCaine and reproductive rights, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin and birth control, Sarah Palin and reproductive rights, Sarah Palin's daughter is pregnant, the Republicans and birth control
