Unplanned teenage pregnancy is an incredibly common predicament, and unlike the image that religious conservatives like to paint, it does not inevitably lead to welfare, neglect, or future inmates. Many women and girls, for an array of reasons, will choose to keep their unplanned child, either with or without the assistance of their partner or family. While single parenthood is certainly not ideal for a child, many women are perfectly capable of successfully raising a child in such circumstances. That being said, again, it is not an ideal situation for a child, and that is why teenage mothers, young, unmarried couples with children, and single mothers are often frowned upon, especially by the religious right, who are especially critical of such situations.
Sarah Palin, the Republican vice president nominee, has a seventeen year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, who is pregnant and unmarried. Palin, strongly opposed to abortion, was quick to stress that her daughter will be keeping the child. Shortly after being chosen as McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin announced that her daughter would be marrying the boy who had impregnated her. (Nothing has been said about the nature of their relationship. They may have been dating for years prior to the pregnancy, or it may have been a one-night stand.) Now the Republicans are acting as if the decision to keep the child and to marry the boy responsible make up for the fact that Bristol Palin became pregnant in the first place, when I think that we all know that a Democratic nominee with a child in the same situation would be skewered by those same Republicans.
It is very important to look at Sarah Palin's beliefs on these topics. She is highly anti-abortion, even if her own daughter were to be raped. Okay, her daughter is having that baby whether she likes it or not. Sarah Palin refuses support for comprehensive sex education, which would include discussion of various types of birth control. Instead, Palin supports the current abstinence-only sex education that her daughter received. Obviously this was effective. As a Republican, part of Sarah's platform is about family, family values, family morals, and so on. Apparently she is too busy speaking about family to actually focus on her own.
Many people are decrying the sexism that is targeted at Sarah Palin. Many feel that her family is off-limits, and that it is sexist to judge her based on her family. I disagree. I think everyone knows that if Barack Obama had a pregnant daughter, he would receive enormous criticism because of it. More importantly, much of the Republican party's platform centers around old-fashioned, religious family values. Sarah Palin has been extremely vocal about her stance against abortion and her desire to continue with the abstinence-only shit. If she and her party want to put so much weight on these issues, then they damn well better be able to back them up. I think that it is clear that much of what Sarah Palin and others in the Republican party like to tell the voters only applies to themselves when it is convenient.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: How Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Is Relevant To Her Mother's Campaign.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/9199
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
Kayla, I could not disagree more. Palin's daughter's pregnancy should be off limits. Everyone knows Palin's stance on abortion and sex education, but we do not know anything about her personal relationship with her daughter. We also know nothing about Bristol's relationship with the baby's father.
I do not believe it serves feminists or Democrats at all to attack Palin. Like many on Feministing, I disagree with Palin on the issues of abortion and sex education. But how can we, as feminists, condone shaming Palin for her daughter's pregnancy? Doesn't this go against everything feminism stands for?
One more thing, we cannot worry about what Republicans and conservatives would do if the situation were reversed -- if Obama had the pregnant teenage daughter. Yes, I'm sure some Republicans would attack. But we should not use this as justification for attacking Palin.
Oh well done. I was worried that you guys over there would go along with the whole off limits notion as Obama alluded and miss a trick here with the Democrat position looking so dicey.
Looking at it from over here in the UK, and I cannot say if this applies to all US politics or claim any expertise ;) ..but what in the hell is all this trotting out the family as political mascots all about? Not one section of her speech relayed policies or anything tangible. 90% of it was 'meet the family'. And what a family in Republican terms. This from a party that would, as you say, skewer the Democrats with greater gossip mongering AND dictate on social policies.
You do not need to dwell on the gossip as they would. That would show a lack of class. You can and should point out the rank hypocrisy of a ticket based in curtain twitching and moral lecturing as their social politics. That her family can in no way be off limits vis a vis social conservatism since she uses them as her CV. And that she used pro choice language to endorse her daughter's decision.
You could show how delighted you are that years of fighting for that choice ensured her daughter could choose to have the baby and stop the current wave of sneering at feminists presenting them as all about aborting.
Ugh. It's Saint Sarah to oppose the "Obamessiah". The countless articles written on a woman who has done and said a big fat ZERO apart from meet the family essentially means you have to tackle this smartly.
I thought you outlined the issues tactfully and cooly. It was for an outsider like me the fact that she endorsed her daughter's CHOICE while talking out the corner of her mouth on abortion that showed up the enormous double standards, for me. I do not think that should be off limits.
(Bristol looked mentally checked out by the way, poor girl)
I am with Darby on this one. I think we can make all of out points about sex-ed and abortion without dragging a scared, pregnant, 17 year old girl into the mix.