Ok I have had enough. Bristol Paulin is pregnant. She is 17 and unmarried and her mother is running for VP - HER MOTHER. I think the media should leave her alone.
I am Pro-Choice. I think I have been pro-Choice since before I really even grasped the gray area of that choice - BUT news flash - being pro-CHOICE means one can choose to have the baby also. Pro-Choice is not pro abortion.... Being pro-choice is about supporting and affirming a woman's right to reproductive freedom.
I am pro-Choice and have never had an abortion - I have had 2 babies, a miscarriage, used all manner of birth control, been screened for all manner of STDs and so forth. I have benefited from low cost birth control thru the school clinic. I have benefited from free sex ed. I had the county nurse come visit me at home when both babies were born. I benefited from lactation counseling with both babies. When I thought I might be pregnant in college - I knew that abortion was a choice.
Bristol can choose to have her baby and if she has the right amount of support from her family and the baby's father - then I think that is great! She is lucky and sure her life will be different and challenging - but it is her CHOICE. I am not sure the circumstanses of her pregnancy - did they or did they not use birth control, had she had access to sex ed or was she a victim of the right-wing's abstinence only sex ed program. (Hey guys - see hormones will derail that one every time.... (um kinda like that time with the hookers and the whipped cream - oh right different post.....)
The problem with many anti-CHOICE public officials and activists is they are also anti-sex ed, anti-birth control, anti-access to inexpensive OB/GYN services and clinics. Let's be frank - many of them are just plain anti-sex and in some cases - ANTI-Women. (Or they have a narrow world view of a woman's place in the world.)
I have spent zero time looking into the organization Feminists for Life, which Sara Paulin is a member - if it is truly an organization which provides support for women who CHOOSE to have their babies - then BRAVO. I somehow doubt it is that straightforward.
The bottom line for me is Choice. Obama-Biden is committed to keeping my Choices on the table - McCain-Paulin - they want me to limit my choices to THOSE they deem acceptable.
That is UNACCEPTABLE to me - as is digging into Bristol's CHOICES - she is not running for office - she is preparing herself for motherhood. It is a big step and thankfully she has support - not every 17 year in Bristol's shoes is so lucky - my vote hopefully will help that woman, the one lost and alone and needing all the facts and all the support to make the RIGHT decision for her.
1 comment:
what about her mom knowing the media wolves would be on her and accepting the position? that's what gets me. she must have known. this'll put a lot of stress in utero. i wonder about sarah's choice to put her daughter through it. sure, it'd be nice if the media didn't feed like this, but c'mon. it couldn't have been a shock. maybe putting bristol before veep would have been a better choice for sarah.
only wish we didn't get all that jazz over here. oh well. aussies are gossip whores, too.
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