Yay! Mississippi passes Texas

We in the Lone Star State are now just No. 3 in teen pregnancy rates, edged by No. 2 New Mexico and lapped by No. 1 Mississippi.

Bristol did the wrong thing with marriage pledge, etc.

That’s Ted Rall’s take on Bristol Palin’s decision to “keep” the child of her current pregnancy:

Bristol is doing the wrong thing. She's having the kid. She's marrying the father. Three lives will likely be destroyed. …

Those who keep silent about Levi and Bristol's bad decisions — especially those marketing them as examples to be emulate — -are doing society a disservice. Levi and Bristol are about to compound one tragedy (unplanned teen pregnancy) with another (involuntary marriage). They're setting a terrible example for other teenagers who will find themselves in their situation.

As for Bristol, Rall points out that, while there are exceptions, teen moms are more likely to drop out of high school and teen brides are more likely to drop into poverty.

Beyond that, 60 percent of marriages made when both people were under 18 fail in 15 years or less.

Sure, Sarahcuda will pull strings (perhaps literally on college admission or state job placement) for both Bristol and hubby-to-be Levi Johnson, of whom Rall says:

A few days later, Extremely Nervous Boyfriend blinks under the bright lights of a stage in St. Paul, elevated to the even more challenging role of America's Unhappiest 18-Year-Old. I met a guy the night before he was executed. Levi Johnston had the same look in his eyes.

Rall’s snarky answer? A federal law to ban teen marriage and require teen abortion.

Actually, it’s not his snarky answer, it’s his real answer, which shouldn’t surprise regular readers of Rall:

Even pro-choice liberals are afraid to speak the truth: teen marriage and parenthood are disasters for everyone concerned. I have serious problems with well-off married couples who decide to terminate their pregnancies for frivolous reasons. Conversely, abortion ought to be mandatory for people under 18. Twenty-five would be better. Teen marriage should be banned.

Well, that is too much for my taste, but, if we change “abortion” to “birth control,” I wouldn’t see anything more wrong with prescribing the Pill than prescribing MMR vaccines.

Why do young pregnant women delay possible abortions?

An excellent answer comes from across the pond, from Mary Warnock, as she decries British Tories’ efforts to put more restrictions on abortion there:

Many will have refused to acknowledge that they were pregnant for as long as it was possible to deny it to themselves. Some may not have known they were pregnant. A combination of ignorance and fear, shame and hopelessness may have prevented their seeking either an abortion or support from their parents as the weeks went by. Some of them will, in any case, have left home and be living on the streets. Few will have any contact with the father of their baby; some may not even know who he is.

And, she then offers further thoughts on those young women, and the others who choose to become mothers:

We ought to pay less attention to the destruction of life by abortion than to the quality of life of those who are allowed to live.

Indeed.