So John McCain's choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate was the news of the weekend. Even the most cursory look at her record indicates that it was a desperate, poorly thought-out, and ultimately disastrous pick for Senator McCain. (Although, like every good Republican, Governor Palin comes built-in with her own abuse-of-power scandal.)
Political expediency aside, my biggest concern is how batshit-crazily conservative this woman is. Anti-abortion (even in cases of rape or incest). Global warming denier. Polar bear-hater. Crazy gun person. Abstinence-only sex ed booster.
I find the last one to be of particular interest, given the newly discovered fact that Governor Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant, and will be marrying the child's father. I don't particularly care that this girl is pregnant. The fact itself is irrelevant (and even I find the "Palin faked her pregnancy" rumors to be creepy and ghoulish).
But what does this say about the effectiveness of abstinence-only education? I don't know much of anything about young Bristol Palin's education, but I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that Sarah Palin (lauded by Republicans and the evangelical right as a loving and attentive mother) did her best to instill abstinence-only values in her daughter. If Bristol Palin, a girl in a conservative state in a conservative, religious family can succumb to the same primal, sexual urges that the rest of us northeastern liberal elite DFHs do, anyone can. It's less of an indictment of Ms. Palin or her mother's parenting skills, and more of an indication of the folly of abstinence-only education.
Abstinence-only education isn't about preventing unwanted pregnancies, or stopping STDs. It's about controlling young people, and especially young women. And not only does it not work, but it's incredibly dangerous. Let's talk about this, eh, folks?
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