Re: Palin family values

Peggy2 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:45:44 -0000

You've heard the adage, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink?"

Eighty percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned. Considering that abstinence-only education has gotten laughed off by liberals and most schools don't teach it, can't it be said that traditional sex ed ("I know you're going to have sex so here' s condom.") is also a massive failure?

You're glossing over reality.

Re: Palin family values

Stwriley — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:31:53 -0000

Well, actually, the pregnancy is very good evidence indeed in Palin's case.

It comes down to several things, all of which fit together:

First, Palin is and has been a staunch, public advocate of abstinence-only, so if that's not what she's teaching at home, then she's a hypocrite at best. I'm betting it is (I think she holds such positions genuinely) and that Bristol had a good bit of "wait 'til you're married" at home.

Second, her school district has a specifically abstinence-only curriculum. The district's health standards (page 5, standard ACS-B1:h) lay out the standard statement of abstinence-only sex-ed.

Third, the idea that this is somehow the media's fault instead of her parents for not allowing her to have a decent idea of how not to get pregnant is fairly silly, especially when there's the usual "shock and horror" at celebrity teen pregnancy.

Fact is, abstinence-only is a proven failure, we have the statistics and even the NY Times noticed the problem some time ago. Yet, because it fits their own conservative social agenda, the far right-wing keeps pushing it. So basically, they're prepared to send kids out into the world with no real knowledge of how to protect themselves from disease or pregnancy and can't even show that their program delays the onset of teen sexual activity, it's avowed purpose and the reason they claim no other measures are necessary.

This is not just the normal tribulations of an American family, it's a perfect example of "hoist on your own petard." Palin pushed this radical social idea at home and in her public capacity, and now it's come back to bite her.

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Re: Palin family values

Re: Palin family values