Bristol Palin: ‘I Was Never An Abstinence Spokesperson!’

Bristol Palin has recently announced her pregnancy, and she’s been under verbal attack ever since. People are calling her out, not for her pregnancy, but for hypocrisy. After all, Bristol has been preaching abstinence to the public for some time. At least, it seems that she has, but in a new blog post, Palin denies that she was ever paid as an “abstinence spokesperson.”

Bristol has blogged a few times since announcing her pregnancy, largely to tell people to back off. In her newest post, she says her pregnancy was planned, that she’s still pro-choice (apparently some people have suggested her stance on that would change with an unmarried pregnancy), and that she never got paid to promote abstinence.

To prove her point, Bristol shares the video below. In it, she speaks to her audience about teen pregnancy and about “waiting.”

Though it’s true that in this PSA, Bristol doesn’t explicitly say “abstinence,” “waiting” usually carries the connotation of abstaining from sex — not just avoiding pregnancy. Furthermore, in a 2010 appearance, Bristol spoke about abstinence, saying it was the best form of contraception, and that it was about reality, rather than morality.

Us Weekly also reported on her job as an abstinence spokesperson in 2011, speaking to the Candie Foundation — Bristol’s employer — about their efforts to promote abstinence. There’s no denial there that Bristol’s job as a spokesperson for the foundation was in promoting abstinence.

There’s another interview, in which Bristol speaks to People, telling the magazine that if girls were aware of the consequences, no one would be having sex.

Huffington Post also has a 2009 quote from Palin, swearing that she’s committed to abstinence and will never have sex before marriage.

In another clip, Bristol and Sarah Palin appear on Orpah, and Bristol maintains that this same goal, of abstinence until marriage, is not only attainable, but should be the goal for all girls.

Plenty of people choose abstinence for one length of time or another, and plenty make other sexual choices, including pregnancy. These choices are individual and personal, and there’s no reason to attack a person for their choices.

However, Bristol has primarily been mocked, not for her sexual choices, but for being an abstinence spokesperson who found herself in an unwed pregnancy. How does her claim that she was never an abstinence spokesperson hold up?

Even if she sincerely considers her efforts as a more general pregnancy prevention and not a promotion of abstinence, there’s no question she’s been talking about the choice to avoid sex, publicly, and yes, getting paid for it.

She does have a fair point in another line of her blog, though.

“In other words, they are a teen pregnancy prevention non-profit and I worked for them when I was 18 and 19 — when I could share first hand the challenges of being a teen mother.”

Bristol goes on to explain that she’s now 24 and prepared to parent a child. She’s right — there is, in general, a difference between teen pregnancy and parenthood, and 24-year-old pregnancy and parenthood.

Moreover, anyone’s views could be expected to change between the ages of 17 and 24. There is no reason to hold Palin, at age 24, to the views she espoused as a teen. There is no crime in changing your mind.

However, Bristol Palin doesn’t say her views have changed — she simply insists she was never an abstinence spokesperson.

[Photo by:Laura Segall/Getty Images]