Is Bristol Palin's 'message' worth $30,000?

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last updated 8 January 2015

Bristol Palin, Alaska's "first teenager" and one of America's most prominent unwed teenage moms, is set to follow in own her mother's footsteps and hit the speakers' circuit. Available to share her thoughts on such topics as "women, youth, abstinence and 'pro-life' programs," Bristol will command a fee of between $15,000 and $30,000 — small change compared to Sarah Palin's regular $100,000 fee (plus occasional Lear Jet hire), but it still has commentators wondering if this 19-year-old deserves five-figures:

Rewarding Bristol sets a bad precedent: "The only message that hiring Bristol sends sexually active teens is "Look at me. I didn't abstain and I'm making a boatload of cash because of it," says Sheri Reed at Cafe Mom. Young audiences might learn more from "teen moms who don't or didn't always have it so good," not this "overpriced bad example."