Bristol Palin announced on her blog today that she is pregnant. I know. I know, I could take the route of schadenfreude and hypocrisy; but that's not where I'm going to go with this diary. Feel free to go to this diary if that's what you're looking for, but to me, anybody can get pregnant unintentionally. Although there's lots I could write along those lines, in Bristol Palin's case, it's too late.
One of the most important aspects of being Pro-Choice as that when you choose to remain pregnant, then it's a cause for celebration. Being pro-choice is about wanting to have a baby, not dreading having a baby. When I read the announcement, I was concerned for many reasons. The regret, shame and ultimate claim to piety just reeks of all that's wrong with the anti-choice, legalistic evangelical crowd. I doubt this choice is anything but some form of coercion and that's sad, because all babies deserve to be wanted babies.
It's saddening that Bristol Palin's announcement of the pending expansion of her family is void of both joy and happiness. I don't think I can put the entire thing in a block quote, but I can highlight some of her words:
(I’m announcing this news a lot sooner than I ever expected due to the constant trolls who have nothing better to talk about!!!)
Honestly, I’ve been trying my hardest to keep my chin up on this one.and,
I know this has been, and will be, a huge disappointment to my family, to my close friends, and to many of you.AND
Tripp, this new baby, and I will all be fine, because God is merciful.In other parts of the announcement Bristol Palin asks for "no lectures", no "sympathy". She also wants privacy to deal with this situation. Well, I can't let this pity party of hers pass. There are limits to my compassion. This announcement was probably made before TMZ, InTouch or some other gossip publication did it for her. It wasn't done out of joy or anticipation. It seems to have been done out of a strange sense of duty or resignation. It's just off. Here we have a woman who throws stones against people she declares to be immoral while she lives ..... yeah, that hypocrisy thing is a bit much, isn't it?
I grew up in a "Christian" family. A dear high school friend of mine confided to me that her daughter had a child without being married and how "devastated" she was. It was like the baby was a anchor around her neck. I encouraged her to discard that attitude because it wasn't good for her grandchild. Five years later and she's still stuck on the "out of wedlock" bullshit. I can only hope the grandbaby is oblivious to this bullshit. Although, I have no way of knowing exactly what Bristol Palin is hearing from her friends and family, I have some idea of the shit being thrown at her. It can be more ugly than you can comprehend if you haven't lived in a world of false piety. Yes, you could say this is a predicament of her own making, but it's a predicament typical of the religious right where abstinence means not using effective birth control.
Twitter is not going to let Ms. Palin's pregnancy announcement go without comment. The tweets run from alternately compassionate to cruel toward Palin's announcenment and sometimes both at the same time.
I won't give Ms. Palin any advice, lecture or what ever. What I will do is wish her well and hope she finds a way to support herself and her family as well as live free.