She said she wishes she had her baby ten years later. I inferred in that she meant married as well, although I can’t read her mind. I’m not saying she’s not wrong or hasn’t made a mistake. Her mistake is known by people around the world, and she’s been ridiculed for it. I don’t feel the need to pile on and rub salt in her wound. Will I advise my daughter against this behavior? Absolutely. Bristol’s life and that of her child will likely be made more difficult as a result of her actions. That doesn’t mean she must forever wear a scarlet letter or that God can’t restore. If we don’t forgive others, God says he will not forgive us. Condone and promote, no. Love and forgive, yes.
I come from a faith tradition which holds that forgiveness holds no force without repentance. I’ve never heard Bristol regret her actions or suggest she was wrong; I’ve only heard that she wished it had happened later.
Every time Bristol has spoken I have listened for any hint of acknowledgement that marriage before parenthood is the appropriate, reasonable and morally corret sequence. Every time Bristol speaks, I DON’T hear that. What I DO hear is that abstinence just isn’t realistic.
I DO object to that sort of moral vandalism, even when it’s dressed up in what has, somehow, become the morally unquestionable virtue of single motherhood.