here's the thing.

I'm damn frightened of how much the super-conservatives are starting to embrace Palin. With her anti-gay marriage, pro-guns, anti-choice crazy-mofo agenda, she pretty much stands for everything I don't.

And, no, I don't think it's fair that young Bristol Palin gets the national spotlight thrust upon her during what is most likely the worst time of her life. I can't imagine what it is like for this teenager to have to plaster a smile on her face, and act all "yeah, I totally wanted to get pregnant now and get married now despite the fact that my life has barely begun" when she probably just wants to crawl under the covers and cry.

I don't judge her. Hell, no. Anyone who judges a pregnant teen should stop for a second and realize that there but for the grace of Trojan go most of us...it could happen to anyone, and it does happen to many, and the fact that she's keeping the baby, is, apparently, a choice that she made with her family, according to her mother.

Wait...what was that word? Was it...choice? Huh. So by giving her a choice, you're not saying she's a pro-abortion floozie, throw caution to the wind and let's get knocked up because hey, I can just go to the clinic in the morning and who cares! La dee da! She was just given a choice.

Keep the baby - hard decision. Life-altering decision. Terminate the pregnancy - hard decision. Life-altering decision. Either way you look at it, Bristol Palin - and all young women who find themselves pregnant way before they ever wanted to be - have to grow up fast, and make grown-up decisions that are best left for someone a decade older.

The fact that Palin herself had a baby just a few months ago that has Down Syndrome has further rallied the conservatives. See? She found out the baby had a chromosomal disorder and look - she kept him! Because she's pro-life! And anyone who is put in a situation where they find out during an ultrasound that something is very wrong with their child - a child they may have prayed for and hoped for -shouldn't have a choice to deal with the abnormality by terminating the pregnancy, even if it means the baby won't live outside the womb, or it will live a terribly compromised, painful life! That would be wrong! It's so black and white! Can't you see?

As we all remember, I got blood test results that indicated that there was an elevated risk that Jane had Down Syndrome. And during the three weeks between the test and the ultrasound that reassured us that everything was OK, Greg and I had to make a decision. Do we keep the baby, or terminate? 90% of Down Syndrome babies are terminated, as I read. Didn't matter. It wasn't even an option. We were keeping the baby no matter what.

So who is better? Palin, a Republican who doesn't believe in choice, and kept her baby? Or me, a Democrat who treasures choice, and would have kept her baby? See, pro-choice doesn't always mean pro-abortion. It just means pro-CHOICE. In the eyes of the socially conservative Republicans, Palin's moral ground is much higher than mine. Yet we made the same decision.

It KILLS me that Sarah Palin has a huge chance at being the next VP of our country, and possibly the next President as well. I cannot imagine that this mother does not want to ensure the fact that her daughters are given every opportunity to make the choices they want, and to dictate their own lives.