Does Bristol Palin Inspire Teen Pregnancy?
May 26, 2009 by Eliza Ferree
Filed under Family, Parenting
All week I’ve avoided writing about this topic but it seems to be a hot one and something others are chatting about and I thought I’d ask ya’ll what you think. Bristol Palin, the daughter of Sarah Palin (who ran in the last election) was pregnant through the whole campaign which caused tons of controversy. This month’s issue of People Magazine had Bristol Palin appearing on the front cover in her cap and gown, holding her son, Tripp. (click that link to see her)
IMG: Zuma Press
Earlier this month Bristol appeared to be a spokesperson for abstinence for the National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day. She plans on becoming an advocate for the prevention of teen pregnancy. Bristol says that she hopes more will not do what she did and learn from her experiences. I must ask, when you see a young, pretty mom in a cap and gown while holding her baby and waving is this discouraging to our kids…our teens?
According to Bristol thought, this is the message she wants girls to get:
“Girls need to imagine and picture their life with a screaming newborn baby and then think before they have sex. Think about the consequences. If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex. Trust me. Nobody.”
It’s too bad the magazine didn’t shoot a picture of her in a gown with spit up on it and a crying child in her arms. Or maybe even her hair a mess and sleepy eyes. That would’ve painted a different picture for teens that were contemplating it. What’s your opinion?
Bristol doesn’t inspire teen pregnancy, but she does advocate a failed method of preventing it. Saying “don’t have sex” rarely works, but teaching how to have sex responsibly does.
If abstinence worked, she would not have that kid.
I’m glad it’s not the forties or fifties when girls were whisked off to deal with their “women’s troubles”, but I can see that this causes controversy. I think it’s good to have had a public pregnancy, it seems more like it got people talking about birth control.
Bristol Palin might be a public figure, but for the life of me I can’t imagine why anyone would consider her a role model for ANYTHING, other than, maybe: “Kids: do the exact opposite of what I did.”
I think the public made her more of a role model because of the whole campaign. Seriously if her mother wasn’t who she is I doubt we would’ve heard much about her. But now she’s jumping into the role and saying she’s against teen pregnancy but I have read many believe the photo on People Magazine will only encourage children to want to be young teen moms.