Sweetie, listen.
I understand that you're young and naive, and you've led a sheltered life up there in Alaska. And I understand that your parents have probably put all kinds of crazy in your head. I'm sure it was confusing for you, growing up with conflicting messages about loving your neighbor on Sunday and then using government resources to pursue a personal vendetta against your neighbor on Monday.
It's not exactly your fault.
But now that you're a big girl, with a baby of your own, I think it's time for you to learn a few things about this whole sex and abstinence thing. Because it appears that you're still confused.
The Candies Foundation announced Tuesday it has appointed teen mom Bristol Palin as its new ambassador. The foundation, which encourages abstinence to prevent pregnancy among teenage girls, has chosen Palin to help promote National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy on May 6.
"I am so happy to have this opportunity to work with The Candie's Foundation on spreading the message of teen pregnancy prevention. I feel that I could be a living example of the consequences of teen pregnancy." Palin added, "If I can prevent even one girl from getting pregnant, I will feel a sense of accomplishment."
The Candie's Foundation Press Release
I think it's great that you want to offer your experience of having unsafe sex and getting accidentally pregnant in high school as a learning lesson for other young women to avoid ending up in the same unenviable position.
And I think it's admirable that you have the courage to say that abstinence-only education is unrealistic. Who knows that better than you?
In her first interview since giving birth, the teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said having a child is not "glamorous," and that telling young people to be abstinent is "not realistic at all."
CNN
But if you are going to use your experience to talk about a realistic approach to teen pregnancy prevention, you're going to have to take the plunge and use that scary "c" word.
Van Susteren was delicate with the teenager but pointedly asked if "contraception is an issue here."
"Is that something that you were just lazy about or not interested, or do you have philosophical or religious opposition to it," Van Susteren asked.
Bristol quickly answered that she didn't want to get into specifics. The best option is abstinence, the teen said, but added that she didn't think that was "realistic."
See, Bristol, here's the problem. Maybe you don't want to share the gory details of you and Levi and the one time, or maybe ten times, that you did not use contraception. Fine.
But if you are serious about talking to teenage women about pregnancy prevention in a realistic -- that's your word -- way, then you're going to have to talk about contraception. You're going to have to learn about condoms and birth control pills, and you're going to have to encourage those teenage women whom you hope to influence to educate themselves about how to practice safe sex.
Because, as you've noticed, telling them to simply not have sex is not an effective method of pregnancy prevention.
This won't be easy. While we don't know exactly what your politics are, we do know that your mother is a strong advocate for the very method of pregnancy prevention that you know doesn't work. Being a real advocate for realistic teen pregnancy prevention means openly and publicly defying the very policies your own mother and her political party so strongly advocate. It's not easy to stand up to your mother in private, let alone in public.
But if you really want to serve as an example of what happens when a young woman does not fully understand the consequences of unprotected sex, that's exactly what you'll have to do. And if you do that, Bristol, if you encourage your peers to learn about realistic methods of pregnancy prevention, including contraception, I think you will do a great service to your country. Because teen pregnancy is a problem, and that problem cannot effectively be fought with slogans that don't work.
As you well know.