Claire Gawinowicz
Oreland
Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy is a perfect example of how, despite the best intentions of parents to prevent it, a teenager can still get pregnant. By choice, Palin's daughter is going to have the child and marry the father.
Which is exactly the point - it's their choice. No one is forcing her to get an abortion; no government authority is telling the family what to do. They decided among themselves how to handle this very private matter.
That is why I am pro-choice. I believe that a woman and her family should be able to choose how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy and that no government agency should tell them that they are bound by law to have an unwanted child.
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Anne C. Ewing
Philadelphia
Enough with the baby already. Women get pregnant at 17 all the time, and get a lot less help than Bristol Palin. Of course, if she had had any practical, sensible sex education, we might not be hearing this at all.
Bill Redstreake
Lower Gwynedd Township
redstreake1509@msn.com
Some left-wing loonies are blasting Sarah Palin because her 17-year-old-daughter is pregnant and unwed. Barack Obama, whose own mother was 17 and unwed when he was conceived, has taken the high road. For that gesture, I applaud him.
With Joe Biden's son Hunter, 38, and the senator's brother James, 59, involved in two lawsuits for defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge-fund deal that went sour, hateful left-wingers should think twice about attacking a vice presidential candidate because of misdeeds or a mistake in judgment by a family member.
Dorothy Gunzenhauser
Newtown
deg5@verizon.net
Parents can surely sympathize with Sarah Palin. Having an unmarried pregnant daughter is an unhappy situation, no matter how supportive the parents are. This particular situation, however, can be seen as an object lesson: Sarah Palin is a strong advocate for "abstinence only" sex education. A little more education might have avoided this result.
Wendy Quereau
Wayne
Am I subscribing to The Inquirer or the Enquirer? Apparently, you find it appropriate to publish a front-page hard-news piece that parrots the left-wing liberal Internet bloggers from the highly disrespected Daily Kos. You find it professional to repeat the bloggers rumor that Sarah Palin's own youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's child.
It is totally unacceptable, even by minimal professional standards, for a major newspaper to repeat rumors that attack children of politicians without a bit of reporting or evidence to back it up.
Chris Doyle
anitacris@comcast.net
I'm a realist, I know there are many girls who become pregnant at a young age and out of wedlock. I would not dare to judge them. However, when that child's mother is running for vice president, I have a problem. For someone to knowingly cast her family center stage in the political arena, knowing this will bring unwanted attention to her 17-year-old child, gives me cause for concern.
Furthermore, that this vice presidential hopeful, who very recently gave birth to a baby with "special needs," is now going to travel the country campaigning, makes me wonder. Being a parent is a full-time job regardless of job title. It makes me wonder whether Sarah Palin had the best interest of her child in mind when she decided to run for vice president.
I'm not implying that a woman cannot have a career and raise a child. My problem is, this country needs a vice president whose focus is on fixing all of the problems this current administration has created. God knows, fixing those problems will be more than a full-time job.
Tom Tenhave
Reacting to the media reports of Sarah Palin's daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy, John McCain's campaign mastermind was quoted as saying: "What we want to see happen is the privacy of Gov. Palin's daughter respected. And that's what Sen. McCain wants."
Oh really? Is respect for privacy what John McCain and Sarah Palin offer when they demand that no pregnant woman has a right to an abortion?
Philip Lustig
Downingtown
I can't believe the cavalier attitude people are taking about the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, as if it's OK, no problem, things happen. But the message Bristol got from her mother, who has five children, appears to be "sex is good" and spewing out babies is great, as well.
What kind of message is that sending to all teenagers: that mom and dad will not only take care of you, but the father, as well? What does the prospective "father" say about all this?
Marlene Lieber
Medford
rl71@verizon.net
Sen. John McCain's chosen vice presidential candidate's chief qualification appears to be that she serves to calm the fears of the religious right about the senator's dedication to their cause. Sarah Palin does talk the talk, but does she walk the walk?
To my mind, no.
As the mother of a disabled child, I know the time and the effort that is required to allow that child to reach her fullest potential and lead a relatively happy life.
Gov. Palin made the choice to have a child with disabilities, but with that choice comes responsibilities! Does she really believe that campaigning and possibly winning will enable her to also be a mother that Trig will desperately need?
The pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter seems to indicate that being governor may have prevented her from providing the guidance (abstinence only) that her daughter needed. Forcing a "shot-gun wedding" may not be the best solution.
