The Palin Family "Abstinence" Hypocrisy Is America's Problem

When Sarah Palin stepped out onto the national stage, she brought her big family with her too, so that America would love her even more, or something like that. Unfortunately, the story about her pregnant teenage daughter surfaced shortly after and hypocrisy meters were screaming off the charts. Palin's views were of a typical wingnut Republican (abstinence education only, nothing about birth control) but the reality in her own home was quite a different story. Well now her daughter Bristol got herself on the teevee, and well, like, oh my god, guess what she said.

From ThinkProgress:

In 2006, as a gubernatorial candidate, Sarah Palin filled out a questionnaire emphasizing her support for abstinence education. She wrote that “the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.” Alaska does not require sex ed to be taught in schools; Anchorage schools teach “Abstinence Plus,” which emphasizes abstaining from sex.

Palin’s views came under fire when it was revealed that her then-17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant. In her first public interview, Bristol told Fox News’ chief Palin cheerleader Greta Van Susteren last night that abstinence is “not realistic at all”:

VAN SUSTEREN: I don’t want to pry to personally, but I mean, actually, contraception is an issue here. Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have a philosophical or religious opposition to it or…

BRISTOL: No. I don’t want to get into detail about that. But I think abstinence is, like — like, the — I don’t know how to put it — like, the main — everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it’s not realistic at all.

When Van Susteren asked Gov. Palin about abstinence, she seemed similarly dismissive of her former views, admitting, “It sounds naive.” Bristol added, “I just — I hope that people learn from my story and just, like, I don’t know, prevent teen pregnancy, I guess.”

I guess? To paraphrase a quote from a great President, is our children learning anything at all?

Thank god that the adults are back in control of the government and are directing spending towards sex ed and not merely abstinence. The ways of the GOP puritanical purity patrol have shown themselves to be a complete failure, and not just in the Palin house. Schools across the country that have only taught abstinence are doing our nation's children a serious disservice, and that willful ignorance of a real problem will be put to an end by President Obama.