LAT: Palin appears to disagree with McCain on sex education

A few more bits about Palin, contraception and Sex Ed for those who have been researching:

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-sexed6-2008sep06,0,3119305.story

By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 6, 2008

Palin appears to disagree with McCain on sex education
The Republican vice presidential candidate says students should be taught about condoms. Her running mate -- and the party platform -- disagree.

<snip>

"I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues," she said during a debate in Juneau.

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Palin's statements date to her 2006 gubernatorial run. In July of that year, she completed a candidate questionnaire that asked, would she support funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs instead of "explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?"

Palin wrote, "Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

But in August of that year, Palin was asked during a KTOO radio debate if "explicit" programs include those that discuss condoms. Palin said no and called discussions of condoms "relatively benign."

"Explicit means explicit," she said. "No, I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don't have a problem with that. That doesn't scare me, so it's something I would support also."


(A bit more at the link.)

It will be used by McCain to show he wants diversity of viewpoint in his administration and not just yes-men/women.

her current position. The only thing on record had been her 2006 Gov race info.

Abstinence plus use of condoms... I don't know why any reasonable person would oppose that approach regardless of ideology or religious persuasion...( Well yeah I do, but...)

The knee-jerk attempt to paint her as a fundie extremist seems to be off the mark in many areas.

I would have concentrated on arguing that she may be a quick study, and well versed in what she knows, but that there was too much to learn in such a short time to risk her as Veep. But the media and the internet(s) set the tone and the party is playing catch-up.

Someone, right after the announcement, posted here and said we had a tiny window to define Palin and should proceed carefully, and I thought they were spot on.

She is a member of Feminists for Life and they oppose the pill and IUD and morning-after pill, falsely claimiing that they are abortifacients. I will assume she feels the same way until and unless she states otherwose in no uncertain terms.

It is not ok to only support the forms of contraception most likely to fail.

says that members have a variety of positions on contraceptives.

I couldn't find anything concrete on their website about MA pills or IUD's either. Do you know where that info is? Their website sucks.

I've been given links that say that their published policy is different than they are i8n one on one discussions, but I haven't followed up that area yet.