Posted on 02/25/2009 11:35:33 AM PST by AJKauf
When I, a parent of a 17-year-old daughter due to graduate from high school this May, originally read about Bristol Palins pregnancy during the presidential campaign, I shared the same sense of indignant outrage expressed by many upon hearing the news. Why on earth is a girl that age having sex, particularly when she was raised by a mother who staunchly supports abstinence-only education? Didnt she listen?
Yes, Ill admit my first reaction upon learning of a pregnant teenage girl is to think that it really should be that simple: telling ones child dont have sex until youre married should be enough. Never mind the whole virginity pledge thing; explaining the risk of STDs, AIDs and teenage pregnancy should be sufficient rationale. And, just in case it isnt, then the threat of an angry parent with a 12-gauge double-aught buckshot should be enough incentive for teens to keep their britches on. And yet, obviously, it isnt. The Bristol Palins and Jamie Lynn Spears are proof enough that just say no doesnt always sink in....
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
You mean BRISTOL WAS PREGNANT?
I really don’t understand your comment. Having a baby is giving an older child a “chance to slip up”?
Well I never said she was responsible, what I said was that other people who vote consider things like this, and that they saw irony in the situation and that it hurt her credibility. I have nothing against Palin, I admire her resume, just don’t admire the irrational love fest she’s inspiring on here.
Good to know you are perfect and everything you do and touch is likewise perfect. Either you are not a parent or you have no clue as to what your children are really doing.
HA! Touchette.
If someone points out that 70 - 80% of all violent crime are committed by individuals without fathers. . .its unrelated. . .in fact, something must be wrong with you for even bringing it up.
Here's the truth. It is in the political interest of the cultural Left to promote the sexual motive as the predominate basis of young men and women to relate. The Left actively seeks to DESTROY the family and especially the value system that holds the family together. Less family solidarity means a populace more prone to government dependency and loyalty to the State. There is a political motive to the destruction of moral values.
The Founder's understood that Freedom was a gift of God and that our rights were bequeathed to us by God. Our part of this sacred Covenant is to be a virtuous people. When we surrender to the idea that virtue is beyond the reach of youth and is no longer the expectation of parents. We are no longer free. . .because we will no longer understand our responsibility in the maintenance of Freedom.
Without virtue, the people willing surrender their freedom. . .and turn to the intoxication of false hopes.
Wow. Abstinence education is useless because most teens have sex anyway. (Never mind the 30% that chooses not to - abstinence education had no effect on them, of course. In fact, considering the counter-barrage teens get in the form of safe sex ed, free handouts, Planned Parenthood in schools etc, I’m amazed the abstinent percent is as high as it is.)
Using the author’s logic and examples, we shouldn’t bother to teach our kids to keep their hands out of the litter box, eat their vegetables, be honest, dress modestly, and not to drink, steal, cheat or have sex...because their very nature says they’ll probably do all that stuff anyway.
Silly me. I guess instead we should give our kids gloves for the litter box. Oh wait, we DO do that - they’re called condoms at that age.
That makes no sense. McCain-Palin were winning before the bailout nonsense happened. Bristol was old news at that point. Sarah is one of the most popular politicians in the US today, and she’s still one of the most popular governors in the country. Her national political career doesn’t need to be salvaged. She’s only just begun...
Funny thing is that Science Fiction is really the only genre in this seculkar world that explores the nature of humanity
________
You absolutely need to do 2 things.
Get out more.
Read more.
the cause isn’t going away just because of this. but the point is that Sarah won’t be taken seriously if she tries to say anything about this issue.
The irony of the moment the world found out that the person promoting abstinence had a pregnant daughter also must have gone right over a few peoples heads from what I read here on FR.
____________
The way that you word this does not pass the smell test.
SNIFF!
Hear Hear!!!
“the quality or power of inspiring belief”...
I find her credible because of the job she has done as governor of Alaska not because she is a parent.
You might just be surprised. ;-)
/Melancholy on
For the majority of the time America has been, Churches played a pivotal role in our lives and our outlook on life and the future. The sense of community and family kept the children in line, and the gift of faith in a power greater than ourselves helped us to tow that line of right verses wrong.
When I was in high school, it was an absolute scandal when a girl got pregnant, a lot of times the parents would whisk the girl off to a shelter for the gestation and eventual birth. The girl would come back to town and the family would have a new “niece” or “nephew”. Shame was a great motivator in how we conducted ourselves in respect to our standing in the community. There is no more shame, it has been usurped by so-called progress.
The waning morality of the culture took a nose dive with the courts decision of Roe-v-wade. As a result, it seems abstinence is no longer a chaste goal, and marriage is no longer the norm. That is the bigger issue, not abstinence, but a goal for a girl to offer her husband her most precious gift on their wedding night. No marriage, no gift.
It no longer matters and as a society, we have suffered a plight on our senses, dreams, morals and goals the likes of which the devil himself could not have orchestrated.
All in the name of “choice”.
/Melancholy off
I beg to differ just a tad. It is the voice of the advertisers (read: capitalists). They want to sell product and sex sells.
Yes, the above is tongue in cheek. Sort of.
Never mind the 30% that chooses not to - abstinence education had no effect on them, of course
_________
You cannot demonstrate that the 30% are abstinent because of the abstinence education. Numerous factors go into that percentage.
I see God’s chosen are stinking up FR. again.
They have children or grandchildren who never had sex before marriage or so they think or wish.
I wonder what they would think if they knew the background to some of their heroes.
I the analogy should be like the warnings on drug labels: don’t swallow too many pills, it’s bad for you, but if you do, here’s how to deal with it: vomit, drink milk, etc.
Today, the attitude is either:
“it’s OK to swallow pills because you can always vomit afterwards. Swallowing pills is fun!”
OR
“if you swallow the pills, tough. You’re dead, idiot. MY kids never swallow pills.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.