Bristol Palin may not be the best choice to promote abstinence blog of the day

Todd and Bristol Palin talk during breakfast.

This makes about as much sense as this guy becoming a spokesperson for jogging.

Palin is an amusing choice to promote abstinence. The key concept behind abstinence is voluntarily choosing to refrain from sexual relationships. This means making the conscious decision to not have sex.

Palin is the single mother of a five-month-old son whose last relationship was heavily scrutinized by virtually every major media outlet in the country. There can't be that many guys lining up to date her, her last name and tabloid writers from around the country. Is not having sex an option for her at this point?

The only difference between Palin and the other 750,000 underage girls who got pregnant last year was Palin's mother was the only one to run for vice president. While she might have been criticized unfairly during the campaign --it's not as if she asked her mother to run for vice president or planned on getting pregnant as John McCain was wrapping up the nomination -- she has opened herself up to any criticism she might receive this time through the national spotlight.

"I don't see myself as a celebrity; I don't want to be one," Bristol said recently on Good Morning America to clear up something she said on Fox News.

If you live in Alaska, get yourself appointed to a New York City foundation, then make your way around the network circuit, you don't get to say, "I don't want to be a celebrity."

She has also said she wants to be a living example of the consequences of teenage pregnancy and will feel a sense of accomplishment if she is able to prevent one teenage girl from following in her footsteps.

If she is serious about preventing teenage pregnancy, is promoting abstinence really the best way for her to achieve this goal?

While not every teenager has sex, every teenager makes the decision whether or not to engage in sexual activities. Even after this decision is made, sticking to it can be extremely difficult for people of all ages, especially teenagers.

If anyone should know this, it should be Palin. Her mother is a well-known supporter of abstinence as the only form of sex education so one can only assume she grew up in a house hearing the message of abstinence. Since she is the mother of a child, there is no need to assume she engaged in sexual intercourse prior to marriage. After hearing "abstinence, abstinence, abstinence" her whole life, Palin, for whatever reasons, still chose to have sex.

Having just turned 18 herself, she can clearly relate to all the reasons underage girls engage in sexual relations. What makes her think that same group of girls will listen to her message of refraining from sex when she herself chose not to listen to her own parents convey the same message?

Palin should not only understand the reasons behind underage sex and teenage pregnancy first hand, but she should be very familiar the reasons sex leads to unplanned pregnancies. Abstinence isn't the only form of birth control, so why is it the form Palin has chosen to endorse when she herself knows how difficult following through the practice can be? Why isn't she pushing safer methods of sex as an alternative to abstinence? Yes, abstinence is 100 percent effective and a solid Plan A choice, but shouldn't she understand the need to have a Plan B, C, D and even E to prevent pregnancy if Plan A doesn't work?

Abstinence is an effective method to prevent pregnancy. For some people, it's the only plan they need. But is Bristol Palin the best person to convey that message and convince young women it's the best choice for them? If she wants to use her voice to prevent at least one teenage pregnancy, is it the best choice she can make?