The title is meant to be an eye catcher. Unfortunately, the subject is no joking matter. The major news networks believe that a 17 year old being pregnant is news. Actually, maybe I read it wrong. Maybe the major news networks believe that a 17 year old being pregnant and keeping the baby is news. I know the real reason anyone thinks this is news is because the poor 17 year old has a mother who is about to become the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States.
My problem is that what a 17 year old does – and parenting a teenager does not necessarily make you a good candidate for public office – when she is not around her parents is not something parents can control. What parents can control and, in some respects, be held accountable for is the how said 17 year old is raised and what her reaction to the pregnancy will be. In the case of Bristol Palin and her family – and hopefully her soon-to-be husband’s family, they have responded in a loving, conservative manner. After that, even though grandma-to-be is a governor, the family did the right thing and protected the teenager. Her childhood, her life is going to take a drastic change in four months. Her pregnancy is not news. Her pregnancy is tragic but a private, personal matter.
What should be the news is that teenage pregnancy is a huge problem. Here in Broome County, New York the rates are astounding. Teen pregnancy is a hard truth for any family to deal with. It is a hard truth and life altering circumstance for the teen, who is a child herself, to deal with.
This young child who has been thrust into the national spotlight should be allowed to live her life to the best of her ability. It will be a different life than she had imagined for herself five months ago but it will be her life. The major news media should not drag her into the news. She is not news. She is a statistic and the real news is what can this country do to increase health care for children who will not get it normally. The real news is what type of education regarding sex is the most effective education for teenagers.
