You came pretty darned close to saying that:
“Congratulations Bristol. I hope you and baby are healthy and happy. May those you love be a support to you. Ignore the criticism. It is irrelevant now.”
I re-read the article and it sounds like she knows she messed up and she’s taking responsibility for her actions. I do think there needs to be some criticism because if there isn’t, everyone will assume it’s OK or no big deal.
Should there be some criticism for the father? Sure, but the fact is we don’t know for sure who the father is. She said, he didn’t deny, so we assume, but we don’t know. We know who the mother is. The stigma is always going to fall on the woman because we will always know who the mother is. Is it fair? Probably not, but life isn’t fair, the world isn’t fair, biology isn’t fair.
Saying all that does NOT excuse immoral behavior. It only points out ours.