Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is pregnant, media learned today in a statement issued by the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain.
Bristol plans to marry the father of her child. She is reportedly five months along.
In a public statement, Palin and her husband said, “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. We are proud of if Bristol’s decision to have her baby, and even prouder to become grandparents.”
Gov. Palin, during her campaign for Alaska governor, supported abstinence-only education in schools. In 2006, she wrote in a conservative group questionnaire, “explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”
The information was released in efforts to control rumors that claim Palin’s four month-old daughter, who has Down Syndrome, is actually Bristol Palin’s child.
Senator John McCain said he knew Palin’s daughter was pregnant before he tapped Palin as his VP.
Senator Barack Obama recently told media he thinks that this will have no effect on Palin’s political career and “people’s children are especially off-limits,” when it comes to politics and the media’s coverage.
Obama’s mother was 18-years-old when he was born.