Bristol Palin Speaks Out About Teen Pregnancy

In her first interview since the birth of son Tripp, Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and a new teen mother tells Greta Van Susteren (FOX News) she would like to be an advocate against teen pregnancy. Bristol was 17 at the time her pregnancy was announced shortly after her mother was named as John McCain's Vice Presidential running mate.

Throughout the interview Bristol Palin tells Greta she would like to tell teens that waiting ten years to get pregnant would make life much easier. Bristol talked about her life as a new mom, trying to finish her education while only getting a few hours of sleep at a time. Her description of motherhood, repeated several times in the interview was "It's not glamorous." Yet in spite of the non glamorous side of teen pregnancy and motherhood, young Bristol Palin talked about accepting the responsibility and no longer just having to think about herself, but also about her son.

As Greta questioned about telling her parents, Bristol commented that it was harder than going through labor. Many faced with teen pregnancy like Bristol Palin, find this situation to be very true and because of their fear of the outcome destroy the life of an innocent child, and also the life of the one choosing to take drastic illegal means to end the situation. News stories tell of young teen moms dumping their babies in trashcans, drowning them in toilets or lakes or rivers, or burying them after suffocation. While Bristol Palin found telling her situation to her parents to be hard, she took the step and found support in a loving family. While not all girls facing teen pregnancy will get this support, Sarah Palin offered an outlook on teen pregnancy also.

Sarah Palin joined the interview with Greta unexpectedly. In her pursuit to be the advocate against teen pregnancy, Bristol Palin didn't inform Sarah of her scheduled interview with Greta until the day before the taping. Palin, who stood strongly for abstinence-only sex education program when she ran for Governor, commented that abstinence is not going to happen for all teens. This comment echoed Bristol's statement that expecting abstinence is no longer realistic as so many teens believe sex is not acceptable at their age. Gov Palin was not surprised by her daughter's desire to be a part an advocate against teen pregnancy and commented on how strong Bristol is.

The Palin and Johnson families' support of these new teen parents is strong with five generations helping with the new child. While not all teen pregnancy cases end in this type of family support, Gov Palin commented while this is not an ideal situation, you make the most of it. Parents of pregnant teens can hopefully come to the same point of acceptance when faced with the situation and hopefully Bristol Plain can bring a message to teens in her attempts to advocate against teen pregnancy which will positively influence teens.

SOURCE: Personal Viewing of televised interviewed and www.foxnews.com