Bristol Palin to Star in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager"

It seems that Bristol Palin gets more media attention than her mother Sarah nowadays and for a good reason: ever since both ladies advocate abstinence from sexual behavior for teens, only Bristol recognizes the hardships of being an unmarried teen mother. Right before it was announced to the media last year that Bristol and Levi Johnston would indeed be getting married once the baby is born, the young couple has broken up, perhaps because Levi realized he is not quite ready for the responsibility of parenthood. The breakup has not deterred Bristol from trying to be a good mother to her son Tripp, even though Sarah also pitches in to care for the baby.

"The Secret Life of the American Teenager" is an ABC program to be aired this summer that will devote one show to teen pregnancy and motherhood. On the show, Bristol will be talking about abstinence from sexual behavior for teens, although this will probably not influence teens from having sex and babies. Within the past decade, American society has become highly pro-natalist, glamorizing not only pregnancy, but the babies that are usually the end result of sexual intercourse. Bristol won't be talking about Adiana or Mirena on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" but it is safe to say she does not quite know what these things are. To the educated woman, Adiana is similar to Essure, which is a non-hormonal permanent form of birth control, while Mirena is an IUD that is hormonal based. These terms may sound foreign to the average evangelical teen who is used to hearing about abstinence from parents and the family church's pastor, but the information is in fact readily available to the public. Condoms, as a form of birth control, may be considered most popular among teens, yet they are not 100% effective and can break. Teachers and parents who tell their teens to use condoms may feel that they are doing their kids a favor, but in reality, these teens can still get pregnant if they don't get something more serious, like chlamydia or HIV.

It is highly doubtful that American teens who watch this show will actually abstain from sex. It is much easier to give lip service to abstinence rather than actually practice it. Once boys and girls start spending time together like Bristol and Levi did, abstinence is next to impossible. Both girls and women should be prepared to deal with pregnancy and childbirth once they start to have relationships with the male sex. Abstinence really is not good enough for children who are not mentally and emotionally developed enough to take on the responsibility for a tiny human life. It's not as if Bristol and Levi had already received their PhD's from college and got jobs where their average salary is in the six figures when they decided to have sex. Studies show that teens who get stuck in the cycle of teen motherhood have a hard time getting a higher education, better paying jobs, and a career when they have to stay at home and care for a needy baby.

So, what should Bristol Palin be advocating, if not abstinence, which has proven to not be effective among teens?

What Bristol should be advocating is the following for teen girls: Instead of focusing your time and energy on boys (for some reason, Levi did not prove to be beneficial at all to Bristol Palin, but rather a liability) during the pre-teen and teen years, spend that time on academic achievements, volleyball, maybe even dance classes. There is so much available to teen girls nowadays besides babies and motherhood. Maybe it is time for the evangelical Christian right to stop treating their own females as if they are not good for anything else besides childbearing. No doubt Bristol has the capacity to become smart and articulate, but so long as that remains undeveloped and squelched in favor of having to care for her son Tripp, we will never know what untapped talents and brainpower she might have otherwise been able to contribute to the world.

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