Their V.P. Nominee’s Kin Proves the Hypocrisy of Republicans’ Stance on Sex Education

Commentary: Their V.P. Nominee’s Kin Proves the Hypocrisy of Republicans’ Stance on Sex Education
Date: Friday, September 05, 2008
By: Judge Greg Mathis, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

When Republican senator and presidential nominee John McCain named Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he not only made history by selecting just the second woman to run on a major party ticket and the first Republican to do so, he also exposed the deep hypocrisies of the Republican party.

Palin recently admitted that her unmarried daughter was five months pregnant. The self-professed party of "family values," Republicans rushed to support Palin, her daughter and her decision to not only keep the child but to marry the teen-aged father.

While the high schooler’s choice was a difficult one to make it, along with her privacy, it should be respected. The Republican Party, however, does not get off so easily.

Now that one of its own has fallen victim to the abstinence-only education it supports, the GOP should finally admit that its sex-education curriculum is not only limited but harmful.

For years, Republicans have fought the inclusion of a comprehensive sex education program in schools. In an ideal world, a child would be taught to wait a few years, until they are emotionally ready to handle the consequences, before having sex while also learning about birth control and disease prevention. In a Republican world, students learn about abstinence, but don’t receive information about or access to condoms or birth control.

Gov. Palin’s daughter lives in a Republican world. Now, at 17, when she should be thinking about prom and graduation, she is on the verge of marriage and motherhood. Is her life ruined? Not by a long shot. Many teen mothers go on to do great things. But her life is forever changed.
A parent can instill good values in a child and give them all the love and attention they desire. From up high, the Republicans fail to realize that, at some point, these children mature and begin to make their own decisions. Indeed, good parenting goes a long way, but it needs to be supplemented with information and access. The Republican platform of abstinence-only education leaves too much to chance and sets up many young people for failure.

Children born to teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty, less likely to graduate from high school and apt to be teen parents themselves. If a class that touches on the importance of condoms could prevent an unplanned pregnancy, why not add it to curriculum? Eliminating it doesn’t deter young people from having sex. It does, however, encourage them to have unprotected sex.

When conjuring up the image of an unwed teen mother, many conservatives have painted the picture of someone living in the inner city, someone black or brown, living off the government with no ambition and no family support. It’s interesting to see how quickly the party has rallied in support now that the face of teen pregnancy is one of their own. Politics as usual? Perhaps. But it’s hypocritical just the same.

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Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president of Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

this article can be found at http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/gmathis905