Ideas Have Consequences
Posted on September 1, 2008 at 2:49 pmFreddie O’Connell on Sarah Palin’s revelation about her daughter’s pregnancy:
I’ll be glad to grant the Palins their privacy. But the circumstances they wish to keep private, they, and others like them, keep foisting on the public through cynical public policy that fails. And when public policy fails, Ms. Lopez’s thoughts notwithstanding, government does, in fact, punish its people. Failing to equip teenagers with appropriate sex education puts them at greater risk for sexual abuse, leaves them unprepared to understand why abstinence could be important (whether for religious or broader social and health reasons), and ultimately raises the cost of running both a family and a village.
Planning is important. And implementation of plans is even more important. And though Ms. Palin and her ilk would have us all believe otherwise, Planned Parenthood is not an abortion factory; it is an organization that promotes the very family planning the Palins failed to do. Sex and pregnancy and childhood development are not simple issues. They are extremely complicated. And because of that, they deserve our best and most considerate and considered efforts in public policy not bound by orthodox ideologies. Also, unplanned pregnancy is not de facto punishment. But those, like Ms. Palin, who propagate their non-mainstream ideas through public policy that results in high social costs ought to be punished.
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Comments
4 Responses to “Ideas Have Consequences”
Not only does early childbirth dictate much of the parent’s expenditures of time and money, but having a child at 42 just because Sarah got pregnant is inadvisable because of the high likelihood of genetic defects (like Down’s Syndrome).
See, to me, the question of abortion is not even the issue. It’s how the “global war on culture” being waged in Kleinheider’s assessment allows the participants to move to the next fight without considering whether things can be done better than in the fight (in this case, unwed teenage pregnancy) they’ve already lost.
Freddie lost me in this post. I really was not able to figure out his point. Maybe the shortcoming is mine but thought I’d let you know.
My point was basically that I’m tired of orthodoxy trumping outcome when it comes to social conservatives. And I get a little weary of holier-than-thou hypocrisy, too.