NEW YORK — Unwed mother Bristol Palin said today that abstinence is a realistic way for teens to avoid unwanted pregnancy — a view not shared by the father of her infant son.
Palin, the 18-year old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she wishes she’d waited to have sex.
Bristol Palin was in New York today to help promote National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day.
In the interview, Palin said abstinence is the safest and best choice for teens.
“Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100 percent foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy,” she said.
Palin’s comments are a turnaround from what she told Fox News in February, that teens should avoid sex, but abstinence is “not realistic at all.”
Levi Johnston, Palin’s former fiance and the father of her 4-month old baby, Tripp, echoed that earlier view, saying today abstinence is “not realistic” for young people. He said sexually active teens need to learn about contraception as well.
“Abstinence is a great idea,” Johnston told “CBS This Morning” in an interview. “But I also think you need to enforce, you know, condoms and birth control and other things like that to have safe sex. I don’t just think telling young kids, ‘You can’t have sex,’ it’s not going to work.”
Johnston said he and Palin had used condoms but occasionally had slipped up. That’s how Tripp was conceived, Johnston said.
Palin said Tripp is getting chubby and is starting to giggle. She called him “the love of my life,” but said she wished she could have had him later in life.
Sarah Palin announced her daughter’s pregnancy on Sept. 1, days after Sen. John McCain picked her to be his Republican vice presidential running mate.
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