(And no in advance, we are NOT the same people…)

I also like the point about how if this were Obama’s 17 year old daughter pregnant, their family would be absolutely demonized by the Republicans and right-wing Christians. Even more so because they are black, I’m sure. These rightwingers are so disgustingly hypocritical, it makes me sick. And regardless, why do they think teenagers are getting pregnant if not because THEY AREN’T TAUGHT ABOUT SAFE SEX??! Duhhhhh.

1. Posters are criticizing Jamie Lynn for “glamorizing” her pregnancy by announcing it on the cover of OK magazine, saying she “chose” to announce it, whereas Bristol Palin (or her mother’s political camp) was forced to announce it. Yes, Jamie Lynn did choose the way that she was going to announce her pregnancy — on the cover of OK, reportedly for a fair amount of $$$ — but I don’t think she had a choice in whether or not she would tell anyone. The fact that we all read this blog shows how little ability celebrities have to maintain privacy in their lives, and the recent obsession over celebrity pregnancy pretty much guarantees that Jamie Lynn wasn’t going to be able to hide her pregnancy from the media/papparazzi. And so long as she was planning on keeping the baby, she was definitely not going to be able to keep it a secret. So I don’t think she had a choice in announcing the matter. On the other hand, she did have a choice in how she did it, but I don’t think that announcing it on OK was an attempt to “glamorize” it. I think that in all likelihood, she realized that, by getting knocked up at 16, her career as a child star was pretty much shot, and she was going to have a hard time getting another job…and she was about to have a baby to support. So was it wrong to make a million dollars or so that she could at least theoretically use to support her child when the news was obviously going to come out one way or another anyway? At least this way, she had control over how it was announced. I’m in no way in favor of teen pregnancy, but if you could find a way to profit off of a HUGE mistake you made, wouldn’t you? People sell their stories all the time. Lay off.

2. By the time a kid is 16 or 17, the amount of “control” a parent has over what that child does is and probably should be limited. Part of growing up is learning to make decisions for oneself. Sometimes those are good decisions and sometimes those are bad decisions, but if you don’t have a chance to make your own decisions, then you’ll never learn or grow as a person. What parents are there for is arming their children with the guidance and information necessary to hopefully make good decisions most of the time. However, you can’t always count on parents to give the right teachings or all the information, so there are other ways of teaching kids things as they are growing up, most notably school. Jamie Lynn and Bristol Palin made the SAME bad decision: having sex without adequate birth control measures, and the result was the SAME for both of them: teen pregnancy. For whatever reason, be it their parents or school or lack of caring, they weren’t armed with adequate information to make good decisions when it comes to having safe sex. Neither Lynne Spears nor Sarah Palin is responsible for her daughter’s bad choice. What Sarah Palin is responsible for, though, at least if she’s elected vice president, is contributing to domestic policy decisions in the United States. That includes what kind of information schools can give kids about sex and birth control. If it’s up to Sarah Palin, schools will be able to teach only ABSTINENCE. Clearly, her own daughter is evidence that abstinence-only sex education is INEFFECTIVE. That is why she’s being criticized. Kids will have sex regardless, at least teach them how to protect themselves against pregnancy and disease. In general, teenagers really aren’t mature enough to handle the consequences of sex, so I think it’s great if they’re willing to be abstinent until they are mature enough, but that isn’t the reality of the situation. We need to address that reality. Lynne Spears has virtually nothing to say about public policy, so it doesn’t really matter what her views on sex-ed are.

3. Jamie Lynn may have had a “responsibility” to her young stars. She’s a teenager and she made a mistake. It happens. The antics of celebrities in general prove that they aren’t exactly the best role models in a lot of cases. Hopefully, if you’re a concerned parent, you make sure to provide good role models for your kids in real life and don’t just depend on the disney channel to do it.

Teen pregnancy is an unfortunate situation no matter who it happens to. Both the Palins and the Spears family were raked over the coals equally.

As for Lynn Spears, I feel zero sympathy for this woman. She pimped her own daughters out at a very young age so she could benefit from their money and fame . . .then she acts surprised when they act out? If she didn’t want negative attention, maybe she shouldn’t have pursue this kind of lifestyle.

Bristol Palin and Jamie Lynn Spears weren’t treated differently – Sarah Palin and Lynn Spears were. And, personally, I think they should be.