What Was Bristol's Plan A?

It's hard to imagine that this is how Bristol Palin wanted her senior year of high school to turn out: She's five months pregnant, transferring to a new school away from all her friends, and the father of her baby has posted on his MySpace page that he's a "redneck" who is not interested in having kids.

Pregnancy, a baby, and now marriage probably weren't in her plans before prom. And yet, one night, like hundreds of thousands of other teen girls, she had unprotected sex with her boyfriend and took the risk of getting pregnant. But why? In an age when pregnancy information is a mouse-click away and condoms are available at every 7-11, why are so many teen girls still getting pregnant?

At Seventeen we hear all the time from girls who say that they just "ended up having sex" and weren't prepared with birth control. Or they say that they didn't insist on using condoms because they felt awkward and embarrassed. Instead of protecting themselves, they risk getting pregnant and risk a future that won't turn out the way they had planned.

In a Seventeen /The Candie's Foundation Teen Pregnancy Survey earlier this year a whopping 70% of girls say that having a plan for their future would help prevent unplanned pregnancy. So we ran a contest asking girls to share the dreams that were helping prevent their unplanned pregnancy--their Plan A.

The winning girls made videos about winning an academy award and being a boxer. But they might just as well have made it about one day being the highest ranking woman in the U.S. government.

No matter how you feel about her politics, Sarah Palin is a shining example of the potential and power of women. And in one hot moment with her boyfriend, her daughter gave away her power to make the decisions about how she wanted her future to play out.

It's our responsibility to feed teen girls' dreams for the future and encourage them to be proactive in their destiny so they stop letting unplanned pregnancy "just happen."

Comments

[cgloz]

Excellent piece. As a former boyfriend once said during a discussion about my family, "You were going to college before you were born." Yes, there was a "Plan A" for my life in place which I embraced; it was not something imposed on me (unlike Bristol's alleged plans for marriage, I suspect). I knew that getting pregnant was not part of that plan for the formative years of my life.
However, the lack of vision and goal-setting in today's youth is not limited to females, although girls' issues in this regard are more relevant here because they are the ones who become pregnant. I work in a large urban juvenile justice system, and it's heartbreaking to see young males who have no clue as to what they will do next week, much less the next 10-20-30 years of their lives. How will they support themselves, or these babies some of them make with their equally rudderless female peers?
BTW, if Bristol Palin and her "baby daddy" (recall the profane, functionally illiterate MySpace pages) were black, this election would be OVER. Do you think any unmarried teenage Obama daughters could blithely appear at campaign events heavy with child, and everyone would coo and fawn over them? Again, GAME OVER.

[Rbrown871]

Why is it that there are thousands of teens running around daily that are pregnant. Why is it that the media has to ruin the lime light just to get viewers attention. I am a teacher and I see everyday students walking around that are pregnant. Yes, they are attending school and have had Sex Education classes but does it stop them from having sex? NO, think back many years ago to the 30's and 40's, many women were pregnant by the age of 17 and often were working on their 2nd or 3rd child by the age of 18 or 19. Why don't you scrutinize the Amish whose daughters usually have their first child around the age of 14. Just because Bristol's mother was nominated for the Vice Presidency you have decided to point all the flaws that she and/or her mother may have. Has this prevented Sarah Palin from being able to run the State of Alaska? No, I think that it is good family morals and support that has made her the way she is today. Just like Jamie Lynn Spears, just because she is famous you point out her flaws and her families. I think that if you want news like this, just visit your local hospital and see who in your town is pregnant and how old they are. Just like all of the famous personalities that have caught drinking and driving, That"s an everyday occurrence out in the real world.

[VivianLansky]

Wait a minute. Who says that she's going to be a senior and go to the prom? Last I heard, she hasn't attended school AT ALL since last fall, Levi is also a dropout----and so is her dad!? How is it that she will be advancing to senior year if she did not attend school at all last year, did not go to summer school, and is clearly not going to be going to school at all between now and November?

If the baby is her mom's----then she's got a hell of a good free babysitter! If it's Palin's, then this is obviously what the rest of her life will be about: taking care of children. Struggling against her lack of education.

So----do you know something I don't? Is she starting in senior year?

[Kepps]

Could anyone cite some sources as to how and where this allegation about Palin's baby being her daughter's has been "debunked"?

Aside from the candidate herself "saying" that her daughter is 5 months pregnant so it couldn't possibly be her baby, I haven't seen anything conclusively proving anything (and I'll bet there will be a "miscarriage" before the kids get married). I've seen confirmation of the wide shock and disbelief when she announced "her" pregnancy at 7 months, including the media and even her own staff: http://www.adn.com/front/story/336402.html.
http://www.newsminer.com/photos/2008/mar/06/807/

I've seen confirmation that she gave birth one month later to 6+ pound child after not even "showing" a month earlier! : http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/380134.html I've seen a lack of a birth listing for that day at the hospital (and the days before and after) when she supposedly delivered: http://www.matsuregional.com/nursery/show_day.php?date=2008-04-18.

I've seen confirmation questioning the wisdom of a long trip back home of a woman with a known special needs fetus, water breaking a month early of due date and not even notifying the airline/airplane staff of her supposed condition:
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/22/palins-flight-labor-falls-under-scrutiny/#comments

Maybe I'll just wait till the National Enquirer finishes their investigation.

[athenasword]

I don't like rumors, but so far, Pail'in has proven nothing. And sadly, tossing her daughter under the bus wasn't the answer. If there's more to it, the news will come out.

[navy62802]

The problem is this ignorant policy of abstinence only. The public needs education and a reality check. Living in fairy tale land is going to lead to more and more unplanned pregnancies. Sex education is a must!!

[LiberalMom95]

What I want to know is, why did Sarah Palin agree to be McCain's VP running mate? She knew that her daughter was 5 months pregnant and, unless Sarah's new to the planet, that there would be massive media scrutiny. Bristol is already going through enough without having to deal with the position that her mother has put her in. All I can hope for is that Sarah at least asked Bristol about running for VP. Even if she did, I can't believe that a mother would do that to her daughter. I wouldn't.

[synthfiend]

Palin's speech proves to me that there isn't much she wouldn't do. Ambition, the lure of her place in history, the cutthroat nature of being a former beauty queen all contribute to this. Sarah Palin will say and do just about anything and her family is nothing more than fodder

[Charley2u]

Nonsense...I understand your point, but, it is nonsense.

Having a child is not death of dreams. Not for Bristol, nor Levi.

We do not have to write off two entire lifetimes (and, baby makes three?) because of three minutes of blind teenage passion.

It cannot be true in a society as wealthy as this, that a single teen mistake can haunt someone for life. Or, we need to change our priorities until this is no longer true.

[vipersdad]

Where in this piece do you read that Ann Shoket writes that "having a child" is the "death of dreams?"

To the contrary - she writes that having dreams is a powerful force in preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Your biases are projecting through - No one is writing off lifetimes, but you cannot argue that this event does not inexorably and permanently change the lives of not only the mother to be and the father, but also the child and the parents and extended family.

Sure lemons can be made into lemonaid, but in many families a "single teen mistake can haunt someone for life."

I should know - my mother had a baby out of wedlock (me) and it still haunts her.

It is something people don't understand if they have not lived it.

Peace be with you,

[Charley2u]

"...in one hot moment with her boyfriend, her daughter gave away her power to make the decisions about how she wanted her future to play out."

Could it, perhaps, have been this line?

Don't assume I have not lived this experience, and therefore do not understand.

You make my point for me: for a society as wealthy as ours, this should never be true.

NO teen - boy or girl - should be placed in a position to forfeit their power to make decisions because of a completely normal, perfectly natural exercise of their sexuality.

Sexuality is life, life giving, and life affirming it is not some dark lure to disaster, which should be penalized.

Poverty is a possible outcome for teen pregnancy, because POVERTY is tolerated, not teen pregnancies.

[MCows]

The good news is that the leadership and members of our more conservative party are showing compassion and tolerance for the VP candidate's daughter who is pregnant out of wedlock. As a 55 year-old women, I never thought I would see a scenario such as this play out in my lifetime! The bad news is that the pregnant teen's mom, assuming she becomes VP and possibly president, wants to keep everyone else's teens from learning through sex education at school how to avoid pregnancy--beyond abstinence--and will do everything in her power to prevent our daughter's from having a choice if they end up in the same situation.

[MizK]

Where the heck was this compassion before? Just because the potential VP's daughter gets knocked up warrants compassion? This ratio does not compute! They've forgotten millions and millions of hard working Americans and their teenaged daughters--but now they get compassion and tolerance? How would this have been if it had been viewed if it had happened to the opposing party?

[aklym]

Don't forget that, according to fundamentalist and not-so-fundamentalist belief, this baby is God's will. So does that mean that God willed them not to use a condom or to unsuccessfully use a condom? Maybe this was God's task for them just like Iraq is God's task for this country. Whew! My brain feels scrambled just thinking about it.

[sdskelton03]

It's not society's fault that the children didn't use birth control.

Despite the best efforts of the abstinence only crowd, in 2008 I have a difficult time believing that teenagers don't know about the consequences of sex and how to mitigate the risk.

The bottom line is that two teenagers acted irresponsibly and are now facing the consequences. They, and they, alone share in the blame.

[joesnuffy]

Rather than blame a minor for making an immature decision, which they are kind of expected to do, consider this: Maybe her mother is at fault for not educating her daughter about safe sex. We are all sexual beings, by design, which is why abstinence-only education is not practical; people, including teenagers, will have sex. Bristol Palin is simply a case-in-point. Had she been educated and taught that obtaining and using birth control was OK and not a sin, maybe this wouldn't have happened. This incident shows Palin's inability to govern even a group as small as her own family as well as the failings and shortcomings of her flawed policy.

[MsLiz]

Apparently you have never considered the issue from the point of view of a good teenaged girl. Good girls don't plan to have sex. That would be wrong. Obtaining birth control is planning to have sex, so they won't do it. They don't want their boyfriends to think that they are bad girls, so they don't discuss it with their boyfriends. They don't want their boyfriends to buy condoms in a small town where everyone knows your name either. That's bad for your reputation. Plus, it means he planned on having sex with you, so he must think you are a slut.

Teenagers don't think like adults. That's why they aren't called adults.

[sdskelton03]

Sexuality is tough to deal with for all teenagers, not just girls.

I don't disagree with anything you said, only the concusion that somehow I haven't considered it.

I certainly have and I still feel the same way. In 2008, young people are aware of the consequences of sex and therefore responsible for thier actions.

[sturgis54]

If I thought this poor child, Bristol Palin and her young lover had anything to say about their futures at this point, I would not be nearly as sad about this story as I am. But, who out there really thinks that this decision is not being made by her politically ambitious mother and, to a large extent, by the McCain campaign and his religious right extremist supporters who simply WON'T ALLOW this girl not yet out of high school have a future other than "teen mother." Apparently, Governor Palin and her husband are among that group of scary right wing ideologues and religious zealots who would rather compromise the future life of a teen age girl who has made a very human mistake than even think about alternatives. Would it have been better if the Palin's and so many more like her counseled their child about sex and contraception so that a fetus weren't involved at this point? Yes, certainly. But, instead, having made what for most girls of this tender age is a terrible life-altering mistake, her parents and our nation's most extreme religious zealots MUST have a live birth because it's "God's Will." I feel sorry for young Bristol, but feel nothing but disdain for her parents and all who could not possibly care less about what this will do to her life.

[PennP]

This isn't about Bristol Palin, and it's disgusting to blame her for the problems emerging around the Palin candidacy. Blame Sarah Palin for lousy parenting, a ridiculous position on adolescent sexuality, and the ethical problems littering her past and current administrations. Blame John McCain for a stunningly bad choice whose chief value is showing us how willing he is to risk the future of this country just to revive some of his so-called "maverick" mojo. This is truly a sins-of-the-fathers--and mothers--deal. Leave Bristol alone.

[Donze]

How do you know they didn't use a condom...were you there?!??!

[OkieIntellectual]

Well if they did, its pretty obvious they werte using it wrong. :)

[wyntka]

OK, there's a chance they were using protection, but condoms are pretty effective.

[klmebane]

you have to know how to use a condom PROPERLY for it to be as fully effective as possible. without sex ed the chances of them knowing exactly how to use it are much reduced.

[GloriaFeldt]

Terrific piece as regards teen pregnancy. (I must agree however with those who demur from calling Sarah Palin a shining example of anything, as her positions make her a male supremacist in faux feminist clothing.)

Like you, my heart goes out to Bristol who really had no choices for herself once she became pregnant, given her family's point of view on the matter. I'd just add to your excellent points about teen pregnancy and prevention that until our society comes to healthier terms with sexuality and teaches young people how to acknowledge their very normal sexual feelings along with how to make responsible decisions about sex and pregnancy, the U.S. will continue to have the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world.

[nutty4tahoe]

Like you, my heart weeps for Bristol. Education is empowerment. Not being allowed sex education by her parents is the same thing as being crippled by her parents. Maybe she would still have had sex, maybe she wouldn't, but if she'd been better educated she might have thought twice about the risks. If her parents had sat her down to discuss the potential impact to her future she might have made an informed choice. Now her future is in jeopardy and she has her parents' Stone Age attitude to thank for that. Her mother's political ambitions result in a complete lack of privacy for this young girl when she needs it the most. Her mother will not be available to her, as she will not for the rest of her children. If I was Sarah I would sit down and think hard about how her decisions will impact her future relationship with her daughter. I am a grandmother now but still affected by bad decisions that my parents made when I was young. I have spent my entire adulthood determined not to repeat those with my own children, daughters in law and grandchildren. Sarah appears to be thinking only about her political ambitions and not paying attention to her family dynamic. She'll regret that.

[Tallllama]

Yes and what about the other implications of not using 'protection'? WHY is it so strongly encouraged planetwide these days? Given the obvious result here, that 'abstinance only' did NOT work , I wonder if Gov Palin CONTINUES to oppose multi-solution sex education? Does she realize the possibility of her daughter contracting AIDs instead of 'merely' becoming pregnant?

If she believes that 'liberal' sex education promotes promiscuity, I would argue that 'forbidden fruit' has proven to be a bigger problem for her. And I can only imagine the "How could you do this to me?" type gut feelings going back and forth here. Bristol found out what she'd done a couple month after the fact but her mom chose her course before hand. The Gov may overcome this 'hurdle' & get elected, but life will NEVER be the same for Bristol either way.

[GQTaste]

highest rate of teen pregnacy? I"d like to see some data to back that up. How could we be as bad as third world countries and Africa?

[RG5626]

The "developed world" and "third world" are not the same thing.

[GloriaFeldt]

Ann-
Terrific piece as regards teen pregnancy. (I must agree however with those who demur from calling Sarah Palin a shining example of anything, as her positions make her a male supremacist in faux feminist clothing.)

Like you, my heart goes out to Bristol who really had no choices for herself once she became pregnant, given her family's point of view on the matter. I'd just add to your excellent points about teen pregnancy and prevention that until our society comes to healthier terms with sexuality and teaches young people how to acknowledge their very normal sexual feelings along with how to make responsible decisions about sex and pregnancy, the U.S. will continue to have the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world.