Opinion: Sarah Palin is Truly Pro-Life, Daughter Bristol has Made the Right Choice

Sarah and Todd Palin and their daughter Bristol have demonstrated the correct choice when faced with an unexpected pregnancy. They have chosen Life and led by example.

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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - After the surprising announcement that Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, had been chosen by Senator John McCain to be the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency, the internet was immediately filled with efforts to discredit her.Frankly it was a show of everything that is wrong with the political machine of the so called "pro-choice" wing of the Democratic Party. Sadly, it also included those within the growing numbers of "pro-choice" Republicans.

The attacks were so petty as to point to her "big hair" in an effort to demean her appearance. They revealed her honest acknowledgement of her youthful indiscretions such as smoking pot. She, unlike Bill Clinton, admitted it. Like me and most of us who grew up around the same time,she really did inhale and her honesty about it is an asset. All these folks who are attacking her in an effort to undermine the excitement that her choice has generated only care about protecting the so-called right to "choose", which actually means the "right" to kill an innocent child in the first home of the whole human race, their mothers womb.

First of all, Sarah Palin is a woman who lives what she proclaims. She is truly pro-life. She and her husband Todd knew that their last child, Trigg, had an extra chromosome. He was a "Downs" child. What did they do? They welcomed him as a special gift and showed the whole world that every human life is a gift to be received and not a "problem" to be "dealt with" by the always deadly "choice", of abortion.

Now, the news has emerged that Sarah and Todd's seventeen year old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant with her own child. Yes, pregnant outside of marriage. Well, I understand what they are going through. Having raised five children, including three daughters,it does happen. We cannot make our children's choices for them. We can only pray that when one of those choices results in the gift of life out of the ordinary course, they will choose to respect the life of the child conceived. I have lived this as a father, and as a grandfather, and I resent the arrogance of those who now raise it in an effort to discredit Sarah Palin.

In fact, the Palin's have only confirmed me in my conviction that the Governor of Alaska is a great asset to John McCain and just the kind of leader which we need to stand at the side of the next President of the United States.Bristol Palin acknowledges that she is five months pregnant and unmarried. She and the father of this child have properly exercised their freedom of choice. They have done so morally. They have chosen life. They have also decided not to offer this gift of life for adoption. That is also a moral choice. Bristol will give birth to this child, not abort him or her. She and the father of the baby will marry in the future.

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Today the internet was abuzz with discussion of what is "proper" and allegations that this news somehow undermines the claim that Todd and Sarah truly hold "family values". How despicable! We should all praise Bristol and the father of this child for not opting to kill the baby through abortion. We should applaud and pray for the grandparents who have decided they will help the new family. The scurrilous and judgmental comments and concerns over whether this news undercuts Senator McCain's choice of Sarah Palin are revealing.

The Palins showed their character when they responded with these words: "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support. Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates."

Rather than undermine the claim of Sarah and Todd Palin that they truly are pro-life and pro-family, this news actually underscores why we who are faithful Catholics need to seriously consider the ticket that Sarah Palin has joined as we exercise our faithful citizenship and vote. Oh, I know that her counterpart on the Democratic side is a "practicing" Catholic. There is one problem. He is absolutely wrong on the fundamental human rights issue of our age, the right to life from conception to natural death. In that, he is dissenting from the infallible teaching of the Church and actually showing that he simply does not get the truth about life and does not understand genuine compassion. Abortion is never compassionate and taking innocent human life can never serve the common good.

I am deeply touched by the news from Sarah and Todd Palin. I am offering my own prayer for them, their daughter, their grandchild in the womb, and his or her father who is their future son in law. I have lived through this. The response of this family shows America that the right choice is always life. If Bristol and the father had decided that they could not raise this child and were not ready for this responsibility, they could have chosen adoption. Yes, I know, we do need a public policy which supports all of these proper choices and provides for the mother, the child and even the potential adoptive parents, after birth. The fact of the matter is, the Republican platform finally acknowledges that, thank God.It also, unlike the Democratic platform, acknowledges that that child has a right to life.

The news concerning Sarah and Todd Palin's daughter and her baby does not undermine the Republican Parties efforts to stand as the Party of real family values, it actually strengthens it. No matter how the Democrats try, and there really are good pro-life Democrats, their current platform and their current candidate does not respect the fundamental human right, the right to life, or the first freedom ,the freedom to be born.

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