McCain Fought Teen Pregnancy Programs

WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement Monday about her daughter Bristol was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's. Palin said her daughter intends to raise her child and marry the baby's father, identified in news reports as Levi Johnston, 18, of Wasilla, a high school hockey player whom Bristol has dated for about one year. The baby is due in late December.

McCain's record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.

Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.

"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

McCain's position on contraceptives and teen pregnancy issues has been difficult to judge on the campaign trail, as he appears uncomfortable discussing such topics. Reporters asked the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November 2007 whether he supported grants for sex education in the United States, whether such programs should include directions for using contraceptives and whether he supports President Bush's policy of promoting abstinence.

"Ahhh, I think I support the president's policy," McCain said.

When a reporter asked McCain whether he thought contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV, he replied: "You've stumped me." McCain said later that he was sure he opposed government spending on contraceptives. Asked whether he would oppose condom distribution if he knew that condoms stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, McCain said he had never gotten into those issues before.

The McCain campaign on Monday did not respond to repeated requests for information.

In Senate votes, McCain has opposed some proposals to pay for teen-pregnancy prevention programs. In 2006, McCain joined fellow Republicans in voting against a Senate Democratic proposal to send $100 million to communities for teen-pregnancy prevention programs that would have included sex education about contraceptives.

In 2005, McCain opposed a Senate Democratic proposal that would have spent tens of millions of dollars to pay for pregnancy prevention programs other than abstinence-only education, including education on emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill. The bill also would have required insurance companies that cover Viagra to also pay for prescription contraception.

McCain voted for the Family Support Act in 1988, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and required teen mothers who receive public assistance to remain in high school and, in some cases, to live with their parents.

"Young parents who have not completed high school will be required to stay in or return to school to complete the basic education so necessary to a productive life," said President Reagan, as he signed the law in October 1988.

McCain cited abortion, sex education and birth control as some of the issues on which he differed with Joycelyn Elders, former President Clinton's nominee for surgeon general. He quoted Elders as telling lawmakers that abortion has had positive health effects, including reducing the number of children "afflicted with severe defects."

"As a father of a number of young children, including an adopted daughter who was born with a birth defect, I am deeply, deeply troubled by these views," McCain said in a 1993 speech opposing Elders' confirmation.

Palin's fifth child, a son named Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality that impedes physical, intellectual and language development. Conservatives supportive of Palin as McCain's running mate have praised her choice to deliver Trig even after the family learned about his condition during prenatal testing.

McCain said the country unarguably had a problem with teen pregnancy, but said Elders' approach would only make it worse. He said Elders started a program to distribute condoms in schools, but the rate of teen pregnancy actually rose in those counties. When it turned out many of the condoms were defective, Elders decided to continue the program rather than halt it or inform the public of the risk, McCain added.

___

Associated Press Writer Steve Quinn contributed to this story from Anchorage, Alaska.

(This version CORRECTS question to role contraceptives play in stopping spread of HIV.)

Comments

[closet librarian]

07:28 AM on 09/03/2008

Let's not talk about religious and moral issues for a moment, and let's instead talk about economic issues. According to the CDC the overwhelming majority of teen mothers are minorities. Citation: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsTeenPregnancy/ In addition to that (in California, I was unable to find national statistics) a whopping 83% of teen pregnancies were into poor and low-income. From this report: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/cg/pp/teenpregnancy.asp

It costs California $1.5 billion in taxpayer costs and $3.3 billion in social costs. That's $4.8 billion ANNUALLY, and that is JUST IN CALIFORNIA. $100 million for pregnancy education - to be shared amongst 50 states - is a mere blip compared to the costs to this country to allow and encourage unwanted pregnancies. Think about it this way: if a child must drop out of school, delay or give up on university education, request and receive federal monetary aid, raise a baby (remember - poor and low income families here!) without the support of a family that has the connections and money to assist in raising that baby, then that teen will have a very hard time becoming a contributing member of society. They will not be paying taxes, spending money so that corporations can post profits, and and generally contributing the the economic strength of the country. Education is the only way to go on this.

[Mei]

05:07 AM on 09/03/2008

Why is there not more media analysis on the social impact of unplanned teen pregnancies?
- their statistical rise and the difference between the effectivity of abstinence in contrast to sex education;
-the economic impact on families less able than Palin's to support the child, and hence, the demonization of those "welfare" (minority) moms in contradiction to the acceptance of the anti-abortion teen pregnancy;
-the need for a female vice presidential candidate who can set a clear example for young girls to make self-respectful choices (ie. the Republican women who actually show wisdom by example) rather than simply chalk up a mistake to "forgiveness."
-the emptying out of "morality" in the hypocrisy of unprogressive positions - birth control vs barefoot and pregnant; "traditional" family values vs non-normative gender/sexual values; anti-abortion vs the care and discipline of family planning.
This moment provides a good opportunity to raise important questions that are hard to define without the Palin context.

[janicegwashington]

12:34 AM on 09/03/2008

Documents detail Palin's political life


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13084.html

[darthmaul]

12:27 AM on 09/03/2008

McCain being a student of science fiction built a time machine and traveled into the future. He found out that Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol was going to have a baby out of wedlock OR would use contraception. Realizing that this would, enthuse his radical base, he went back to the present and campaigned vigorously against Teen pregnancy programs including contraception. Thus he ensured that Palin would be popular, and he would be judged as an insightful maverick for selecting Palin. He had to do it, you can see that, can't you?

[hanalea]

12:27 AM on 09/03/2008

Does anyone know if Sarah Palin was ALSO already pregnant at the time she married? This is from Wikipedia and is suggestive: Sarah Palin eloped with her high-school boyfriend, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988, when she was 24 years old.[6] According to her mother, "It was a shock but she did it because she knew we couldn’t afford a big white wedding."[117] Their first son, Track, was born eight months after their wedding.[118]

He could have been premature, but if not...

[rshrink]

12:20 AM on 09/03/2008

That which becomes too rigid, will soon break. Conservatives in league with repubs continue to insist on approaches to problems that don't work. This is not a one size fits all world. Humans are diverse and deal with the complexities of life in many different ways. I think Obama and Biden understand this while McCain and Palin remain in the dark, likely dealing with their own ghosts. The government needs to be much less involved in moralizing. We have other established ways of dealing with that. The people need to quit expecting the government to watch over the morals as well. The government has other things to take care of and needs to get back to doing that. If we don't, our country will fail, no matter how moral we pretend to be. Bush has pretended to be watching over our morals while he has sold us all out to the interests of big business. How many times will people be suckered into doing that?

[Artemrs]

12:19 AM on 09/03/2008

John McCain and Sarah Palin will be taking this country backwards 50 years. Look at all the advances we have made and that either have or are slipping away. Don't people understand these beliefs of McCain/Palin regarding reproduction is their right, but don't tell me how to live my reproductive life. As President and Vice-President they are supposed to uphold the Constitution and represent all the people. When they infringe on my rights, or yours, or the 17-year-old girl down the street who chooses abortion in the first trimester they are overstepping the bounds of their office. eproductive rights is a private matter between a woman and her doctor. Why do the Republicans, who are always talking about government interferring, interfere on this, a most basic right. Roe V.Wade is legal (for now), and the statistics are there for anyone to check out. Abstinence, plus sex education with instruction on contraception keeps teenage pregnancies down. It is a fact. Not abstinence alone, but in conjunction with sex education. Why are we dumbing down our young people and wanting to saddle them with parenthood instead of higher education so they can compete in this global economy and the challenges that are world-side? Barack Obama is right on this one, pro-choice needs to be preserved, but we also must get abortions down. It's so simple; abstinence PLUS sex education.

[GrainOSand]

12:17 AM on 09/03/2008

Our story begins at conception where the pro-life interests say they make their stand as a moral voice. Our story ends at birth where those same people will say no healthcare, no job for your parents, no access to education, no hope, and no chance to break the cycle of pain.

Is this pro-life or just pro-I must be in charge? Did they only listen to a portion of James Brown’s message of complimentary forces -- the classic, “This is a man’s world”? Did they hear the other part proclaiming all meaning, reason, purpose, and possibility would be lost without a woman?

Have the baby at all costs is the pro-life position. The moral question becomes is there such a thing as a living death? In religious terms, this is not ours to decide. Do we not decide this everyday in increments of withheld empathy, in fractions of distortion of struggle, in portions of, I got mine you get yours type approaches to humanity? We are living amongst the dead. There are people walking around this place with futures that were DOA.

Promote life, but re-define what life is to be inclusive of the hardest aspect of living, which remains that part that comes after the labor pains of childbirth and that part which lasts for a lifetime for child and parent and has a bearing on the zombified state and potential of individual life in all instances of being pro-life.

[themodernleader]

12:01 AM on 09/03/2008

Christian religious organizations recognize that the people attracted to their religions have lost their self esteem, self confidence and inner equilibrium. In a sense they are desperate people resulting form joblessness, penury, poverty and a desolate future. Such people are perfectly fitted for membership into a molden mass of true belief and absolute obedience.
Therefore, these chiurches have created the incredible doctrine of human consciousness beginning with the penetration of sperm into egg of a human female. The more humans that populate the earth, the more over-population the earth will become and the greater will be the flock that the religious organizations direct and control.
Therefore, it may be concluded that religiousorganizations flourish as human prospects decline. Our forefathers knew that the support of religious organizations by democratic government would bring down such government. Therefore the prohibition of mixing religious organizing and American governing. The Republican Party's despicable leadership mocks our Constitution in their lust for power and self-interest over national interest. Its membership would be patriotic by either bringing it back to Constitutional moorings or deserting it to minority irrelevance.

[Michaeloleary]

11:59 PM on 09/02/2008

No one seems to be questioning Palin's choice to accept the nomination knowing full well that it would certainly turn her teenage daughter's private crisis into a national scandal. I guess she wanted to be VP more than she cared to protect her family and their privacy. She HAD to know what would occur when the announcement was inevitably made. This is clearly not the time to subject your children to an international microscope. She should have passed on this personal political opportunity - just as a father in her role should have, in lieu of meeting her obligations to protect her children from harm. Now that poor child and the baby's father will be defined for life on the national scene. Could Sarah have become governor if her parents subjected her to national scrutiny at the age of 17?

[HattieB]

10:54 PM on 09/02/2008

" E N O U G H " !!!

[ramal]

10:31 PM on 09/02/2008

Well, I guess that came home to bite her on the ass big time, didn't it? Typical Republican: (the national budget; government corruption; "family values") do as I say, NOT as I do.

[the964kid]

10:11 PM on 09/02/2008

It's no wonder Bristol ended up pregnant. DId she even know how a girl could get pregnant??

A sarcastic 'thank you' goes to Mr. McCain and Mrs. Palin for trying to keep young people ignorant and without the tools to avoid stds and unplanned pregnancies.

[Anciano]

08:59 PM on 09/02/2008

From the 2008 Republican Platform:
“…We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior. Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100% safe against out-of-wedlock births…”
http://platform.gop.com/2008Platform.pdf
Wait until you see their economic platform!

[ssezer62]

08:42 PM on 09/02/2008

Here is authentic McCain, he jokes and says women like to be raped! disgrace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPnfnB7fRek