Potential VP?

In May of this year I wrote a blog titled “One Extra Chromosome” about the Palin family who is now McCain’s running mate for the Presidency.  I never ever would have thought that just a few months later that I would be looking at Sarah Palin as possiblly becoming the Vice President of our country.  And now another issue involving a child enters the picture.  Her 17 year old daughter, Bristol is currently 5 months pregnant and the family is dealing with this issue very publicly and under an insane amount of public scrutiny.  Here is part of Al Mohler’s blog about the Palin’s and her possible role of Vice President:

Labor Day 2008 came with a bang as Hurricane Gustav plowed into the Gulf Coast and as the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain revealed that the daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is five months pregnant, and yet unmarried.  The word spread quickly, even as Americans celebrated their end-of-summer holiday with an unusual attentiveness to the news.

A statement released by the McCain campaign got right to the point, quoting Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd:

“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.”

The release added little to that statement, other than that the father is an 18-year-old named Levi and that the young couple plans to get married.

McCain advisor Steve Schmidt said, “Life happens.”  McCain speechwriter Mark Salter commented, “An American family.”  Millions of Americans wondered, “What’s going on here?”

The Palin family asked to be left to deal with this privately, an understandable impulse for any family.  But this isn’t just any family at the present.  The moment Sen. John McCain announced Gov. Palin as his running mate, the entire Palin family became a public issue.  This was amplified by the fact that the entire Palin family (except for the oldest son, Track, soon headed for deployment in Iraq) stood there before the public.

One central feature of the public introduction to the Palins was the presence of Trig, the 4-month-old baby boy who is the couple’s fifth child.  Trig was diagnosed with Down syndrome prior to his birth, and the Palins translated their pro-life beliefs into a beautiful portrait of human dignity.  As the couple said, they never even considered aborting the baby, but considered him a gift from God.

Now there is another gift — this time in the form of a pregnant daughter and a child conceived outside of marriage.  The Palins spoke of their pride in the fact that their daughter would keep her baby and marry the father.  Once again, the Palin family chooses life over death, birth over abortion, when aborting the baby would be justified by many and considered the easy way out of an embarrassing situation.  Yes, that baby is a gift, as is every single living human being, born and unborn.

But the entire nation felt the awkwardness of the situation, and even part of the embarrassment.  Yes, as Steve Schmidt said, “Life happens,” but not always like this.  And Mark Salter is certainly correct in describing the situation as “an American family.”  Still, this is not the script many families would choose — especially evangelical families who had been most encouraged by Gov. Palin’s choice as Sen. McCain’s running mate.

Will this damage the McCain-Palin ticket in November?  Time will tell, but there is good reason to doubt that it will.  Teenage pregnancy is hardly unknown these days, and the very public decision to keep the baby will encourage pro-lifers all the more.  The press is likely to leave this issue alone, at least as much as possible.

A more interesting angle on this story has to do with the question of motherhood.  In this case it is the Governor as mother that is the issue, rather than the daughter.  As Jodi Kantor and Rachel L. Swarns of The New York Times frame the issue:

When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was introduced as a vice-presidential pick, she was presented as a magnet for female voters, the epitome of everymom appeal.

But since then, as mothers across the country supervise the season’s final water fights and pack book bags, some have voiced the kind of doubts that few male pundits have dared raise on television. With five children, including an infant with Down syndrome and, as the country learned Monday, a pregnant 17-year-old, Ms. Palin has set off a fierce argument among women about whether there are enough hours in the day for her to take on the vice presidency, and whether she is right to try.

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My personal feeling about the Palin family is respect and admiration.  Personally, do I wish there were no teenage pregnancies?  Yes.  Do I wish there were no more babies conceived and born out of wedlock?  Yes.  Do I wish that everyone would wait until marriage to be intimate with someone?  Yes.  Is this reality?  No.  I see it every single day I work.  I would say that at least 90% of my patients in Labor and Delivery are 20 years of age and younger.  Some are as young as 14 as of recently.  I believe the Palin family, or what I can see of them, look like a stable, supportive family.  I believe they will use this to show the world an example of what support and love is supposed to be like when a family is unexpectedly thrown into a situation such as theirs.  I cannot tell you how many times I see teenagers come in to give birth to their first, second or third child who have no support system.  I commend the Palin family for being there as family should be.  We shall see how their example continues to evolve.  But let’s give credit to Bristol Palin that she wasn’t so selfish that she aborted another life just to spare her mother’s image, her image or anyone else’s for that matter.  Two wrongs definitely do not make a right.  As a nation and as christians we should be praying and supporting this family in their decision to love their daughter and this baby unconditionally.