America’s most public pregnancy

To Paul Waters,

I did not say there is anything wrong with Bristol Palin keeping her pregnancy. If I and my girlfriend did the opposite more than twenty years ago, that does not mean I will urge every seventeen-year old to do the same. But I would not go to the extreme length of putting a ban on any sort of abortion, even in the case of rape and incest.
I think in every sort of world (not only in mine) girls do ‘fall’ pregnant. ‘Passiveness’ often has nothing to do with the causality of pregnancy, and I’d rather invoke the paradoxical mixture of pleasure-reality to circumstantiate pregnancy, not ‘pleasantness.’
I did not write about my experience to trivilise the process of procreation, but to point out that when you are 17, sometimes the frisky, restive mice of indiscretion and exploration may disrupt the ‘best-laid’ intentions of your parents, society, norms, religious dictates and so on.

It’s quite possible, I suppose, that in Adebowale Oriku’s world, girls “fall” pregnant in the same way they fall sick, but in mine, at least, the process is a little more active (and a good deal more pleasant). And while it’s also possible that the decision they made at the time of this oddly passive event was best for “both parties”, I’m not at all sure it was best for all three parties.

But that’s all water under the bridge, and I would no more crucify Oriku and his girlfriend for their decision, however wrong I might think it is, than I would pillory Ms. Palin for her indiscretion.

The candidacy of Vice President Sarah Palin is an important challange. The Democrats who are frightened and looking filthy rags. A blogger of New York Times, criticizes her little attention to her last child with Down syndrome. If she had done like a pro-choice, such care would not be necessary. The baby would be dead. The U.S. elections will be exciting. It’s fun pictures main Spanish newspaper (liberal) on the Republican Convention: Grandmothers screaming, old politicians, an Orthodox bishop… They are afraid.
In the global village, these elections are very important for Europe: at stake choose between the culture of life and culture of death.

I’m sure that Palin spoke seriously to her daughter on learning she was pregnant. What mother wants that for her child?  It’s been 5 months already and they are ready to move on and accept the consequences. Why do we have to keep condemning her when we haven’t heard all of the facts or witnessed the remorse. All of us have downfalls that we would rather go unnoticed… and who says that her mistake is worse than ours of always being critical and instead of looking for the good in society and encouraging the good, we pull people down by our own criticisms. Lets give good example and we will make the world better at least by one.

In a study of media bias done by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University that covered the first six weeks of the general election campaign as reported on NBC, ABC, and CBS, it was found that most of the coverage was neutral. When commentators did venture an opinion McCain did far better than Obama. In these cases, it was 27% positive for Obama and 73% negative. For McCain it was 47% positive and 53% negative. Just saying there is liberal bias in the media dos not make it so. I think the Republicans are trying to inoculate themselves against media criticism by raising the false spectre of media bias. It might work. Media people are no longer known for their bravery.

If the Republicans - or the rightwing uber-good Christians amongst them - had not set themselves up as the dragons of morality, few would have said anything even slightly admonitory about Palin and her daughter. And it’s not even as if Democrats are gloating… If this had happened to a Democrat the damnation she would have been subjected to would have been ferocious and unsparing.
It is my hope that Mrs Palin and other theo-conservatives would at least learn how not to act holier-than-thou. The human family is weak, vulnerable and fragile.
The vicarious decision Mrs Palin has made contra-abortion is not unexpected and there is no point heaping praise on her for that.
Contrary to being a fallen woman, Bristol Palin should be welcome into the fallible fold. The import of all this is more philosophical than feelgood.
I was 17 when a girlfriend of 17 fell pregnant, but unlike Bristol and her boyfriend-cum-fiancé we were not faced with the option of a ‘shotgun wedding.’ We took the option that ‘pro-lifers’ would have crucified us for. But at that giddy if energetic period of our lives, that was the best thing for both parties.

I wonder if we can’t thread the needle a little more skillfully?

We can be accepting and loving of teenagers who “slip up” and get pregnant while at the same time maintaining some modicum of public shame.  Unconditional love in a family does not require a “no shame” attitude in public.  Given the circumstances, the Palins get a passing grade for how they handled the situation, but they don’t get an A--and neither does anyone else who insists that we the public ought to either celebrate life and avoid shaming or shame and avoid celebrating life.  It is a false choice.  Thread the needle…

I have heard the joke before that Sarah told in her convention speech, but it was likening pitbulls to Surgical ICU nurses, which I am. I much prefer the definition of a powerful woman that a family recently posted over my patient’s bed, presumably to remind us for whom we were caring:

A powerful woman is one who, when her feet hit the floor in the morning, makes the devil shudder and say, “Oh s#*t! she’s up!”

It is so exciting to see a real woman bringing true feminine genius so aptly to the role of public servant. I applaud McCain for choosing such a strongly pro-life candidate; it will, indeed, be a very interesting race.

Mecatornet to the recue again with some sound and gracious comment on the toings and froings in the madcap media world. The breathless hipocracy of the left wing media elite is simply beyond belief “It is very sad to see the double standard of the pro-abortion secular progressives (SP) who want to rule the world.  On one hand they used the argument of a woman’s privacy as the legal argument for Roe vs. Wade, but ignore Bristol’s privacy. Where are the ethics of these SPs (specially in the mainstream media?) who have made headline news of the “drama” of two teenagers who lacked chastity. But decided not to report the affair of a mature politician, who cheated on his wife with cancer when the politician was running for president in the democratic primary”. Well said Mario and Carmina. The truth of the matter is we all have clay feet. I for one welcome Sarah Palin a women with a little fire in her belly to the Presidential Vice Presidential race. She is certainly going to liven things up for one and all and she just might liven things up for our unborn children around the world who might otherwise never see the light of day.
Yours for our children
Warwick Marsh

Brian Lilley wrote: “Already much is being said, in a negative way, about Palin’s decision to carry a child with Downs Syndrome to term.”

I’d like to see some documentation on that. I haven’t heard a hint of criticism about Palin carrying a child with Down’s Syndrome to term. I did hear Obama promise to fire anyone on his staff who criticized Palin’s family. I have heard criticism here on this site of Bristol Palin, which I find to be odd. You can’t claim to be pro-life while continuing to pile shame on teenagers who slip up and get pregnant. Bristol is doing exactly the right thing and I’m glad her parents are sticking by her.

Now if you want to talk politics, well that’s a whole different conversation.

Funny, I never really thought of myself as tacky and low class. Hubris, I guess. My thanks to Ms.Shaidle for setting me straight.

The spooky thing about the Palin nomination is that for me, looking at her family is like looking into a slightly distorted mirror. The have six kids; we have five. Their youngest has Down syndrome; so does ours. Our oldest daughter, like theirs, presented us with an unexpected baby at age 17. Even spookier, a rumour ciculated through our other daughters’ school at one point that our youngest was actually our oldest daughter’s baby. I was never voted for Miss Alaska, but I like to think my wife could have been named Miss St. Lambert.

The point I’m trying to make, I suppose, is that the ups and downs of Governor Palin’s beautiful family will be familiar to thousands of decent, ordinary American voters—or, if you prefer Five Feet of Fury’s nomenclature, low class and tacky American voters.

I think you’d have to have a small amount of hootzpa to criticize Palin for this, there’s only been one perfect family.  I occurs to me that people in their town didn’t like them much and their kid was ultimately killed for doing the right thing.  What’s Palin supposed to say?  “My daughter is a dope and mercy killing would be only too kind for her”?  Gimme a break, what would you do if you were a national/worldwide personality and people were taking swipes at your children?  Conservatives aren’t the party of sanctity we just think the government shouldn’t be in the way of our personal effort towards sanctity.

One sad thing in all this is that we find Palin heroic for having a baby with Downs.  To me, welcoming any type of child is a compassionate act that is Normal.  Yet, our standards are so watered down that when people do the Normal thing they are heros.

We lived in the USA for 13 years. We love the United States of America. In our opinion. It is important to keep the pro-life arguments in the public scene.

Abortion is a crime. There are no ifs ands or buts. As a physician and a scientist I can only conclude the scientific evidence clearly shows that life begins at fertilization, also known as conception (by the way my pay grade is much lower than the one of the junior senator from Illinois).

It is most likely that when the sermons from Sarah Palin’s church are made public, the themes will be very Christian and very pro-life. Which can only offend the abortionists and those who do not believe in God.  The contrast from Mr. Wright’s hate filled “sermons” is like the difference between night and day. In an ideal world people will learn more about the evil and dangers of liberation theology, which is nothing less than marxism disguised as religion.

It is very sad to see the double standard of the pro-abortion secular progressives (SP) who want to rule the world.  On one hand they used the argument of a woman’s privacy as the legal argument for Roe vs. Wade, but ignore Bristol’s privacy. Where are the ethics of these SPs (specially in the mainstream media?) who have made headline news of the “drama” of two teenagers who lacked chastity. But decided not to report the affair of a mature politician, who cheated on his wife with cancer when the politician was running for president in the democratic primary.

Those of us who love God, we know that life is a precious gift from Him, so we need to defend life from conception to natural death.

We pray for an end to abortion, we pray for the Palin’s and we pray for the USA.

God bless

Interesting personality Palin has there. I wish her all the best.

What was that Supreme Court case?  Something about a constitutional ‘right of privacy’ for pregnant women?