The responsible thing to do in a situation like this IS to give the baby up for adoption, and some caring people still do that. Telling girls that it’s OK to raise a baby as an unwed single mother is one of the worst aspects of the breakdown of our culture.
In this case, I suppose that the press would have discovered & violated the privacy of any adoptive parents. But it would have been awfully brave for the Palins to send not just the pro-life message, but the pro-adoption message. It isn’t admirable to save a baby’s life only to drag it into a dysfunctional mess.
Yes, but keep in mind that the death of the unborn is the default alternative, in this culture. it'd be easier to bring moral pressure to bear if that was not the usual recourse. Ann Coulter wrote a long rebuke of single motherhood, but she didn't take that into account, or not much. That adoption is the most reasonable and unselfish of the choices doesn't get much shrift anymore.
Remember how "aunts" and "cousins" would disappear and come home with a new baby? Everyone knew the score...
What????
This girl is not poor and on welfare. She and the baby will be fine.
Give the baby up becasue she is single?
For heavens sakes...
Check out the other thread on this 400+
If she was broke, one thing...This baby will be fine and loved.
Give a baby up because of having no father in the marriage sense? No, no, no.
While I agree that adoption is an option that is not considered in the high regard it should be, I don’t think we can say that the Bristol’s baby has been dragged into a dysfunctional mess. They seem to be a pretty normal family.