South Carolina Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Guest Blog - Don Flowers, Board Chair

Posted 09/03/08

This week the issue of teen pregnancy has made its way into the national spotlight with the announcement that Bristol Palin, the 17 year old daughter of Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is 5 months pregnant. The Palins released a statement proclaiming their support of their daughter as she is forced to grow up faster than anticipated. Their unwavering support has garnered cheers from both sides of the political aisle; with Democratic nominee Barack Obama declaring that children are off limits.

That is to be commended. But there are still questions that must be raised. Teen pregnancy is the issue in families and society that no one wants to discuss. And yet nearly 10,000 young girls will become pregnant in SC this year—and yet we don’t talk about them. Maybe the news this week, like that of Jamie Lynn Spears, gives us an opportunity to raise the difficult questions that must have answers.

• Support has come to this child who has chosen to marry the father, and keep the child. But would the same support be offered to the daughter of the cashier at the local Wal Mart, or would she be the brunt of some talk show punch line?
• Bristol Palin will have the best in pre-natal care because her parents, the governor of Alaska and a union worker from the oil fields, have the financial resources to make that happen. Who would pay for the prenatal care of the 16 year old daughter of the single mom who works 2 jobs just to pay the rent, but has no health insurance?
• In discussing the situation, political strategist Mark Salter stated that this is “An American family.” But is that the case? Is the American family now represented by 17 year olds who get pregnant and then get married and then finish high school—hopefully?

We need to have a conversation about how we are going to “support” all our children who find themselves facing an unwanted and unintended pregnancy. We have to have a conversation about why we as parents, schools, governments, churches would prefer to avoid our discomfort about the issue of sexuality while thousands of our children become pregnant. We need to ask ourselves if it would not be better to have supported our children before they become pregnant with age appropriate information about sexuality that includes information about contraceptives.

These are not “comfortable” conversations. These are not political conversations. They are life and life conversations. These are conversations that go to the very core of who we are as parents, as communities, as a people. These are conversations that we must have.

More than the outcome of a political race hangs in the balance.