Shortly after Sarah Palin was named as the GOP Vice Presidential canidate, her daughter Bristol Palin’s teenage pregnancy became national news.  Since the election, Bristol has had her baby, a son named Tripp, and has recently taken a role as spokesperson during Eight Annual National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  During that day, Bristol, son Tripp, and father Todd Palin took to the TODAY show to talk about their story.  Bristol stated that being a mother was “hard work” and her father talked about the “fine line” families walk during and with a teen pregnancy.  Bristol also announced that she has changed her position stating that abstinence is the only way to prevent teen pregnancies from one that promoted safe sex.  She does say that if teens plan to have sex anyway, to always practice safe sex.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30597615/

I think that there is more to the Palin story than we know and I think that Bristol often sends mixed messages as have other recent, highly-publicized, teen pregancies.  Bristol often talks about how hard being a teen mother is, yet she talks about the joys that being a mother brings her.  In the Jamie Lynn Spears case, Jamie Lynn posed on a magazine cover talking about how happy she was.  In Bristol’s case, she does speak out and now advocates abstinence only, which I don’t always agree with.  However, the message that most teens recieve is a mixed message: being a teen mother is often hard but it has it’s positives.