Ann Dunham's "Mistake"

Barack Obama has been magnanimous and compassionate in his repudiation of the vicious attacks on Sarah and Bristol Palin, but have any of his ardent pro-“choice” supporters given thanks for the decision of Barack’s own mother NOT to use contraception to prevent her son's conception, or NOT to abort him? Barack’s mother’s circumstances (teenaged and unwed) in 1961 were very similar to Bristol Palin’s, except that Ann Dunham lived in those “dark days” (as pro-“choice” supporters often refer to that time) prior to the Roe v. Wade decision.

Who knows what decision Ann would’ve made had more “choices” been easily available to her, but do Obama’s pro-“choice” supporters really wish that the “enlightened days” of Roe v. Wade had begun twelve years earlier? According to an April TIME article, Obama’s mother as a teenager was much more interested in college and a career than marriage and children. Had someone made the pitch then to her that the Planned Parenthood billboards now promote (“Take Care of Yourself”), who knows if she would’ve still chosen Barack's life over “taking care of herself”?

Obviously, neither Bristol's nor Ann's contraceptive methods, if employed at all, effectively prevented conception. Though perhaps Ann didn't have access to a Planned Parenthood clinic where she could obtain free contraceptive aids (and where the cost of abortions could be subsidized by government grants to Planned Parenthood for contraception distribution), Bristol did--there's an office in Wasilla. The fact that Bristol may not have heeded her elders' advice about contraception or pre-marital sex is less than astonishing to any parent of a teenager, to put it mildly. Are Bristol's critics equally anxious to lecture Ann Dunham/Obama/Soetoro's son and granddaughters about the "lessons" of teenage passion?

We’ll never know how many other bright, talented and compelling presidential candidates have been lost to us, but pro-“choice” advocates might take a moment to consider the continuing unintended consequences of their vigorous support for Roe v. Wade.