02 September 2008

Give it a rest, people

There's much to-do, on the internet and print and television, about the pregnancy of Goveror Palin's seventeen-year-old unmarried daughter.
First off, how many seventeen-year-old unmarried girls get pregnant in this country every year? Millions, Rico suspects, most of them poor and black, and they get no airtime whatever. (The BBC says there are some 750,000 teenage pregnancies in the US per year; according to the CDC, "about one-third of girls in the United States get pregnant before age 20". More than 80% of births in this group "were unintended, meaning they occurred sooner than desired or were not wanted at any time", the CDC said.)
Secondly, the stupid girl had a bad role model; her own mother had just finished giving birth to her fourth child when the kid got pregnant. (Maybe she was just looking for some attention, and found it with the wrong guy.)
Thirdly, she got talked out of an abortion (not that it's a great idea, but it's not the worst solution for a seventeen-year-old; Rico's been friends with several young women who had them (but was the father of none), and they survived the experience) by her mother, who's against them.
Fourthly, she intends to marry the young whelp who fathered the child. (That'll teach him.)
Fifthly, this is why kids should get Norplant right after their first period. (Hey, it's my mother's idea. Take it up with her, if you dare.)
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama said that families should be off-limits in presidential campaigns after learning of the news. "Let me be as clear as possible," Obama said. "I think people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits."
Rico says he agrees totally.

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