I have read with interest statements in the press regarding Sarah Palin's "choice" to have her youngest child, knowing that it was a Down's Syndrome baby. Now, the latest is that her 17 year old daughter has "chosen" to have her baby, conceived out of wedlock, unsurprisingly, after an abstinence only education from her parents. I don't get it.
27 years ago I was a recently divorced mother of a 3 year old daughter. After a several month long relationship that I ended when signs of an abusive personality began to surface I found myself pregnant (wrong place, wrong guy, wrong birth control device.). I was sad, scared, and lonely. I was already struggling financially, but my little girl was the light of my life, beautiful, brilliant, and so full of promise. What to do with the current pregnancy was not an easy decision. Fortunately, I had a choice. I knew I did not have to have this new baby. No one knew of my predicament. I could terminate if I chose to. But I had a choice, and I chose life. My son has never had to wonder if he was wanted. I had a choice, and I chose life. The only thing, and I mean the ONLY thing, that gave me the courage to face raising a second child by myself was knowing I could escape if I had to. I had a choice, and I was able to choose life. I could go on and tell you how wonderful my son is, and how glad I am that I made the decision I did, but it's really not the point. There are many women who can not, for a million reasons, make the same choice I did. I understand to the core of my being how hard it is for them. Thanks to Roe V. Wade, they have a choice.
The Palins, mother and daughter, have not chosen life. Their unforgiving, religion driven attitudes have removed choice from their vocabulary on this matter. Sarah had to have her Down's Syndrome baby. Termination was not an option for her. Her teenage daugher HAS to have this baby. Termination is not an option for her either. There is nothing brave or noble about the path they take. It is forced on them by their own religious convictions.
This would be a simple family matter for them if Mrs. Palin were not a candidate for vice president, a candidate with a driven agenda to remove choice from the lives of her countrywomen, regardless of whether or not they share her religious beliefs. Governor Palin is determined to inflict her "abstinence only" theories, despite having been proved wrong in her own life, on OUR children.
We can not let her get away with it.