Just plain irresponsible

I am in downright shock that a political science major could publish such a short-sighted view about the Palin situation. While I completely agree that it’s ridiculous when the first thing a student says about Sarah Palin is “her daughter’s pregnant,” there is a far larger issue that should be addressed. It is obvious that Kristi LaFree is actually the one who fails to “discover the real issue here,” as she so nicely put it.

According to the Palo Alto Foundation, nearly one million teens become pregnant each year. Of those (pregnancies), almost 80 percent are unintended. So, when this columnist stated that it is noble for Sarah Palin to put her daughter in the spotlight for her selflessness, I have to wonder what exactly is selfless about a seventeen-year-old becoming pregnant by accident instead of taking the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening.

I do not know any liberals running around asking the schools to teach teens where to get an abortion or telling people how to “thoughtlessly kill a living person.” Instead, they realize that the conservative belief of teaching strictly teaching abstinence is not effective. Maybe Sarah Palin should be teaching teens and young adults how to prevent these “mistakes” so that they do not have to suffer such a severe consequence like her daughter is.

I urge students to look beyond the fact that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant and think about the larger problem. This vice-presidential candidate would rather have students learn only about abstinence instead of learning how to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs. Sex is all around us. When teens turn on their TVs, shows like “Gossip Girl” and “90210” flaunt sex, which is showing them that abstinence is not a part of their lives. So why should teens choose to be abstinent? It is imperative that conservatives realize that teenage pregnancy is a huge problem in this country and something more needs to be done, which is certainly lacking from the McCain-Palin ticket.

Katie Harvey
IU senior