Race for President Sparks More Discussions on Womens Rights, Teen Pregnancies

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by Lesley R. Chinn

Teen pregnancy, an issue America has grappled with for decades, and the issue of a womans right to an

abortion have gained attention from national and local observers due to new developments in the race for

president.

After Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin announced that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant, the media seized on the issue while Palins stand on abortion has become even more controversial.

Youve had a political convention where teen pregnancy would have never been discussed before this, said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Do you think you would have gotten a 105,000 news stories in the past week had it not been for Bristol Palin?

In general, Albert said teen pregnancy has been on the decline by about 32 to 38 percent since the 1990s. On the average, he said, teens are more cautious today about contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. More teens are delaying sex and using contraception and somehow they are getting the message. However, he said parents are still key in preventing unwanted pregnancies. We hope that one of the focuses that parents will take is not to wait until their daughter is pregnant or if their son has caused a pregnancy. Parents should be in the prevention business.

From the inside, no family ever seems typical. Thats how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any otherthe same challenges and the same joys, Palin stated during her acceptance speech last Wednesday during the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, MN where she commented on the issue of her daughters pregnancy.

Delmarie Cobb, a Democratic political strategist and former Hillary Clinton supporter, said while Bristol will most likely have access to more resources that reality does not fit everyday families faced with teen pregnancy who are struggling to make ends meet. The everyday family that decides to have a baby at 17 oftentimes has to drop out of school, are relegated to low- or nopaying jobs, and a cycle of poverty that repeats itself over and over again. Thats the reality that we have to tell these young girls.

Meanwhile, news reports revealed that three abortions rights groups, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood and EMILYs List are planning to spend $10 million each to defeat McCains run for president, citing his choice of Palin as a reason.

This is the most anti-choice ticket in the history of the Republican Party, NARAL Political Director Beth Shipp stated. McCain put someone as outside the mainstream as you can on his ticket, which is Sarah Palin, she said.

EMILYs List released a new poll on how women voters, including Hillary Clinton supporters, feel about Palin, the McCain-Palin ticket and the Obama-Biden ticket.

Of the 800 likely Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters, the poll found:

*Palins background and personal narrative are not particularly appealing to women voters;

*Several of Palins positions on issues including abortion, add to the perception that the GOP is out-of-touch with women voters views and;

*Women voters conclude that the Obama-Biden ticket is more in tune with the issues and concerns that are

important to women than the McCain-Palin ticket.

With the most important decision of his candidacy, Senator McCain managed to appear politically expedient, reverse his advantage on experience, damage his potential for growth among independents and

undecided voters, and turn off the women who supported Senator Hillary Clinton.

If Senator McCain thought that putting Governor Palin on the ticket would be a game changer, he may have been right, but not in the way he intended. Senator McCain has seriously misjudged women voters if he thinks he can win them over simply by putting a woman on the ticket, said EMILYs List President Ellen Malcolm.

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