News that the unmarried teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, is five months pregnant has sparked a media storm to match Hurricane Gustav's disruption of the GOP convention this week. Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain insists the pregnancy of 17-year-old Bristol Palin is a private family matter. But it raises legitimate questions about Governor Palin's forceful support for abstinence-only sex education policies, as well as the vetting process that led Mr. McCain to choose a running mate with one of the slimmest resumes for high office in recent memory.
To their credit, Republicans and Democrats are trying to steer clear of turning the governor's daughter into campaign fodder. But if nothing else, Bristol Palin's pregnancy should prompt a renewed conversation about teen pregnancy in America and its recent rise after years of decline through successful preventive health campaigns. Nationally, rates have declined 36 percent since their peak in 1990; in Baltimore, the drop has been nearly 30 percent since 1997. Yet progress has stalled in recent years; since 2005, teen pregnancy rates have been rising.
