FACT: This unfounded rumor has caused plenty snickering among Palin haters, because of the pregnancy of her seventeen year old daughter Bristol. Then the snickers turn into a kind of karmic pity - "If only she'd allowed her daughter to learn about birth control ..."
Almost immediately after her nomination, news outlets began reporting stories similar to this one: Palin Backed Abstinence-Only Education (MSNBC)
But that's only half the story.
Joanne Jacobs from Pajamas Media provides a more complete answer:
Actually, Alaska schools don’t teach abstinence only, notes the Anchorage Daily News.
The state requires that abstinence be “stressed,” but not to the exclusion of comprehensive sex education, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Wasilla High, where Bristol Palin is a student, teaches [a] soup-to-nuts course, reports Rory of Parentalcation, who lives nearby. “I called up my buddy who has a teenage daughter in school there, and asked him the question. He said they teach the same thing every school does. Don’t do it, but if you do, use birth control … risks … blah, blah, blah.”
Furthermore, Gov. Palin appears to support that policy, reports the Los Angeles Times, though her position has either been nuanced or muddled, depending on your political sympathies.
Running for governor of Alaska in 2006, Sarah Palin filled out a questionnaire that asked if she’d support funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs instead of “explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?”
Palin wrote, “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”
The next month, Palin clarified “explicit,” on a radio debate. Asked if “explicit” programs include those that discuss condoms. Palin said no and called discussions of condoms “relatively benign.”
“Explicit means explicit,” she said. “No, I’m pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don’t have a problem with that. That doesn’t scare me, so it’s something I would support also.”
... Palin also has nuanced/muddled views on banning abortion. During the 2006 campaign, the Anchorage Daily News asked: “If Roe v. Wade were overturned and states could once again prohibit abortion … should abortion be prohibited in Alaska?”
Palin answered: ”Under this hypothetical scenario, it would not be up to the governor to unilaterally ban anything. It would be up to the people of Alaska to discuss and decide how we would like our society to reflect our values.”
It's unfortunate that Palin did not provide a clearer explanation of "explicit sex education programs," but it is my guess that she was thinking of stories like these:
Children to be given 'explicit' guide to joy of sex (Britain, August 2000)
An explicit "good grope guide" telling children how to have their first sexual encounters is being aimed at 14-year-olds. The booklet, published today by the Brook Advisory Centre, describes and shows how to get pleasure from sex.
Headteachers warned that the guide could encourage pupils to have underage sex. They said it could be seen as "titillation" and would raise objections from parents.
The 18-page guide, Say Yes, Say No, Say Maybe has sections such as "What's it like when you do it", including graphic descriptions of what happens during sex and cartoons showing the teenage fumbling that accompanies a first kiss.
The guide describes "all that touching and nibbling, sucking and rubbing" that turns sex from a "wham-bam thank-you ma'am bore into the fireworks that leave you feeling wonderful and your partner thinking you are the best thing since sliced bread".
Explicit Sex-Ed Pamphets Distributed to Pre-Teens (New York, October 2007)
Catherine Johnson says all was not well at the recent "Wellness Fair" at the Irvington Middle and High School campus. Her 13-year-old son, and many even younger, were given sex ed pamphlets that contain graphic language and graphic advice on straight and gay sex practices, including oral and anal sex.
Explicit "Sex Education" Pamphlet To Be Given To Six Year Olds in British Schools (September 2008)
This recent British sex education initiative is sponsored by the Family Planning Association, which the aforementioned article describes thusly:
The Family Planning Association, which receives full support from government education officials, is a leader among British organisations promoting what have been called the doctrines of "pan-sexualism" - completely unlimited sexual activity for everyone at any age, under the guise of "sexual health."
As such the FPA not only promotes sex-education for small children and teens, but contraception, abortion, sterilisation and homosexuality. Founded in 1930, the FPA was a part of the early 20th century eugenics movement that sought to improve society by eliminating "undesirable" classes and groups of people, including the poor, through birth control. Such organisations later evolved into the modern international population control movement.
Opposing such programs doesn't make Sarah Palin a fundie, or a prude, or a theocrat. It just makes her, well, normal. As with creationism vs. evolution in public schools, it seems that Sarah Palin is content to govern according to the will of the people, rather than her own private religious beliefs.
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