Leaders in the evangelical movement have started filtering in about the announcement that Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol is 5 months pregnant. First, here’s Todd and Sarah Palin’s statement on their daughter:

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

Here’s what Dr. Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in his official statement:

“This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don’t get it. Those who criticize the Palin family don’t understand that we don’t see babies as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn’t want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don’t see a child as punishment.”

Here’s Tony Perkins’ reaction to the news:

“Unfortunately, teenage pregnancy has become all too common in today*s society regardless of a family*s economic or social status. It is problem that we remain committed to reducing through encouraging young people to practice abstinence.

Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father*s example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation. We are committed to praying for Bristol and her husband to be and the entire Palin family and they walk through a very private matter in the eyes of the public.”

I’ll update this post as more reaction rolls in.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Bristol Palin, Teen Pregnancies, Tony Perkins, Richard Land, Pro-Life, Personal Privacy

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. What happened in the Palin household that young Bristol got pregnant? Did she not get the “Abstinence Only” message? Or, was Dad busy sitting in on Alaska state legislative sessions (umm, who elected him?) and Mom was busy jetting all over the country tying to get the VP nomination. Either way, a serious mistake — for the parents, not the teenager.

   How can we trust Palin to put the country first when she obviously doesn’t put her children first?

   Comment by Rocky — September 1, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

2. That has to be one of the dumbest posts you’ve ever made, Rocky. Obviously, if the daughter knows she’s pregnant it has to have happened long before Palin was “jetting all over the country trying to get the VP nomination.”

   I suppose you were the exceptional child who hung on your parents’ every word of advice, never disobeyed anything they ever told you?

   Well, amazingly enough, the same thing happens in Christian families, too. The difference, in a lot of cases, is that the parents realize the only way to go is forward, not trying to turn the clock back by making the “mistake” an “unmistake.”

   Good for Palin. Once more, she has stood by priciple instead of convenience.

   Comment by Carlos — September 1, 2008 @ 5:04 pm

3. I think people should not, repeat, not attack the underage daughter. Leave her alone. The grown ups, however, have a lot of explaining to do. Did they fail to properly parent the child? What kind of sex education did they give her? What kind of morals about unmarried sex did they instill in her? Is the father underage, too, and where was the parental supervision? If the father is not underage, why is he not being prosecuted for molesting, heck, raping an underage child since underage children by law do not have capacity to consent? Surely no one thinks it is OK for a man of legal age to have sex with a minor child as long as he promises to marry her IF she gets pregnant. As Governor of the state of Alaska, Mrs. Palin is duty bound to enforce state law. If the father was legal age when he impregnated her daughter, then Ms. Palin is flouting the law and neglecting her duty as parent and governor for not insisting the legal age offender be proseuted to the full extent of the law. I do not believe there is provision in the law which says a child molester can get away with molestation if the parent of the child says it is OK…or if the Governor of the state says it is…OK or if the molester promises to marry the molested child if she gets pregnant. So where are the cops? Where are child protective services? Unconnected people in situations like this are subjected to the law. Molesters are arrested and negligent parents are charged with negligence or child endangerment…or as accomplices if they were aware the molestation was going on. So what is the deal with no one being up in arms against the grown ups. Has child molestation become acceptable when its prosecution might endanger a presidential or other high stakes political campaign? If that is what we have come to and just stand idly by on the side in silence then we all deserve to go to hell.

   Comment by Pilar Jurado — September 1, 2008 @ 5:32 pm

4. Bravo for the Palin family! Now we also know their Christian beliefs are more than just talk, as Pelosi’s are.

   As for the obviously unhinged and psychotic depressive Mr. Rocky, remember that only in this and a handful of countries would he have the right to speak such vile, evil, puke rotten filth.

   Fortunately, we also have the right not to listen, and to also pray that his mind and soul may someday be reconciled to truth.

   Comment by T A Gray — September 1, 2008 @ 5:36 pm

5. Mr. Jurado, you obviously believe that the State trumps the family in even the most personal of decisions between parent and child. With all due respect, your as screwed up as Rocky.

   Would you be so free with all the legalistic bs you just vomited forth if it were your daughter?

   Comment by T A Gray — September 1, 2008 @ 5:49 pm

6. Which “principle” is Palin standing behind, Carlos? The “don’t tell your children about sex ‘cuase then they’ll just want it more!” or is it “do as I say and not as I do!”? (Remember, Sarah and Todd’s marriage was, likewise, at the end of a shotgun.)

   I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

   And Carlos, may I humbly suggest that you read a little bit about Gov. Palin’s bizarre travel schedule in the last 6 months… let’s just say, for Gov. Palin, leaking amniotic fluid and pending a severely handicapped child’s complicated birth (Trig tragically has been diagnosed with Down’s syndrome) was less important than giving a speech at the governor’s convention in Texas.

   Which would you say is more important, Carlos… giving birth, or giving a speech? This is not about Bristol’s pregnancy, nor even Palin’s. This is about the Governor’s lack of judgment.

   We’re being asked to look beyond Palin’s lack of experience on the national level, lack of knowledge of how government works, and apparent lack of common sense. We’re supposed to trust that as the vice president must be ready to step into the president’s place at a moment’s notice and probably under extreme circumstances, Palin would be ready… and the only thing we have to look at with regard to Palin is ideology, i.e. her commitment to being anti-abortion and accompanying culturally conservative positions. That she is not hypocritical under the circumstances is admirable, but had she done her job as a parent, she wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.

   You see, Sarah had an unexpected baby in April, which was about 5 months ago. Bristol is 5 months pregnant. Wouldn’t the news that you’re unexpectedly pregnant be a terrific opportunity to discuss such matters with your post-pubescent girls? Not if you’re running around the country trying to further your political career, delivering a speech in Texas and boarding a plane minutes later, in labor no less (and, let’s not forget that she had to lie her way on to the plane since the airlines don’t allow late-term pregnant women to fly) to deliver a baby less than 14 hours later.

   Palin obviously places ideology before facts, and it is sadly her daughter’s cross to bear.

   Thanks but no thanks; I’ll take a VP who has a firm grasp on reality.

   Comment by Rocky — September 1, 2008 @ 6:10 pm

7. Rocky would fit in well in an autocratic family or government like Obama envisions. He can’t distinguish between teaching abstinence and tyranny.

   What a dipshit!

   Comment by Frank — September 1, 2008 @ 6:37 pm

8. An “autocratic” family… what the hell are you talking about, Frank? I thought conservatives believed that the man of the house was supposed to wear the pants, that the children were supposed to obey their parents… you know, all those traditional family values that the rightwingnuts have crammed down our throats for the last 50 years.

   But how is a Mom discussing her unexpected pregnancy with her teenage daughters “autocratic?” Maybe “loving” and “mentoring” and “caring” about her daughters’ futures, but “autocratic” doesn’t come to mind. It’s not like she couldn’t explain that this “surprise” was a pleasant one given her marriage and age, but that such a surprise in her daughters’ lives would be wholly different. I cannot get over how this would have been an incredible learning opportunity in a home committed to life (to the point of being on the outermost fringes of the abortion debate) and it is as though this was happening to someone else, not the Palins, at least not as far as Bristol was concerned.

   And I’m shocked that you folks who consider yourselves pro-life are not indignant that your proposed vice president seems to lack the depth to stand behind her moral convictions, and raise her children with a sense of right and wrong.

   Maybe Gov. Palin should have thought of her daughter first when accepting the VP nomination, and prevented the scrutiny that she had to know would descend upon the family. But according to Palin’s own words, she was aware that Bristol was pregnant prior to discussions with the McCain campaign, and chose to set her child’s life-altering event aside in favor of her political ambition.

   And I haven’t even begun to address the needs of a 4-month old infant with Down’s syndrome.

   I can accept beign called a dipshit, but how can you justify this woman’s wanton political ambition?

   Comment by Rocky — September 1, 2008 @ 8:17 pm

9. Rocky, you know damned well, if Gov Palin were Democrat we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

   This evening, Obama told us family and children were off limits. That you continue to make an ass of yourself, is your choice.

   You are way out of bounds however, when you take upon yourself to moralize or dictate how another person raises their family, or suggest that because a child wasn’t aborted that had Downes syndrom, the parents are mean, or stupid or whatever it is you were implying.

   No on here said much beyond how embarrassing it was for his wife and family when word broke about John Edwards mistress, or Gov. Pertaki’s (sic) call girl.

   Comment by T A Gray — September 1, 2008 @ 11:44 pm

10. Rocky continues to show complete ignorance of what conservatives believe. (I said that with tongue in cheek.) He thinks spreading DNC agitprop makes him sound intelligent. He’s wrong on all counts.

    Comment by Frank — September 2, 2008 @ 9:22 am

11. Don’t worry Frank, im sure the Secret Service had a field day yesterday tracking down all the epiphets, slime balls and threats concealed and non concealed.

    Especially now that some brilliant gopher in the Alaska Democratic party made public the governors SSN and addresses of her family. Anyone that tries anything that even looks threatening now is going to find himself in the company of some very seriously unamused Federal Officers.

    Comment by T A Gray — September 2, 2008 @ 6:41 pm