Bristol Palin's abstinence pledge

(Image credit: Corbis)

last updated 8 January 2015

Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol — whose out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy proved a key distraction in the 2008 election — has sworn off premarital sex, pledging on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to remain abstinent until she ties the knot. Oprah asked whether Bristol's vow (which Bristol first made to In Touch magazine two years ago) was a "realistic" commitment, prompting speculation about Bristol's sincerity. Is Palin, 19, serious about sexlessness or just fulfilling her obligations as the new face of the Candie's Foundation, a pro-abstinence charity? (Watch Oprah interview Bristol Palin)

Bristol's setting an example: Oprah likes to feed her "44 million" viewers a lot of "hogwash" about "empowerment and realising your dream," says Carolyn Plocher at Newsbusters — unless your dream is abstinence, in which case Oprah apparently thinks her fans should "throw in the towel." How sad that Oprah "couldn't find anything praiseworthy" to say about a "young teen girl setting an example."

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Bristol wants to spend time being a Mom: If you can look past the "salacious coverage" of Bristol Palin's relationship with the father of her child, says an editorial in the Cypress Times, you can see she has "learned from her mistakes." She has foresworn new relationships because she "wants nothing to interfere with her responsibilities" as a mother. If only the "disgraced" father, Levi Johnston, would do the same thing.

It's a business move: It's tempting to think this is Palin's attempt to "start fresh," says Jessica Grose at Slate's XX blog, but there is a more "self-interested explanation" — the PR company she founded earlier this month. Bristol's work as a Candie's Foundation spokesperson may be unpaid, but surely a "different pro-abstinence organisation" might be willing to pay "mucho dinero" for Bristol's services.