Possibly my lack of shock was from growing up in a University town. In ad lib remarks, Barack Obama made the statement that he wouldn’t want his daughters punished with a child or an STD if they were to have teenage sex. For me, I took it to mean analogously that if one of his daughters was drunk driving he didn’t want them punished by wrapping their car around a tree and dying. I think it is perfectly natural to not desire the worst case scenario from a poor choice. Most would agree that premarital sex and drunk driving are poor choices. Most would agree these activities can have natural consequences that are undesirable. To say that being pregnant at 15 is undesirable or the rightful consequence (punishment) of a poor choice doesn’t seem to me to be all that remarkable. And while many of us today are sensitive to the term ‘bastard’ and other descriptors of out of wedlock birth, many of us do not think “Congratulations!” upon hearing of the birth of a child out of wedlock, particularly to a young teenager.
My memory isn’t always the best on these sort of things, so I’m curious if others remember similar things. I could have sworn we were told not to have sex so we wouldn’t end up with a baby. I could have sworn we were told that if we engaged in irresponsible behavior, we would wind up pregnant, infected with AIDS, getting another STD, and, oh yeah, possibly infected with AIDS. I realize there are many trying to place a greater emphasis on babies being a good thing, but we need to make sure to have a home ready for them. Question for the floor: how was the issue addressed growing up?
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