NATALIE MORALES reporting:
With nearly 750,000
teen pregnancies
each year, the US has the highest
teen pregnancy
rate in the
industrialized world
. But one national organization wants to lower those numbers with the help of a familiar teen mom.
Bristol Palin
has teamed up with the
Candie's
Foundation
as part of a new
public service
campaign aimed at preventing
teen pregnancy
.
Bristol Palin
is here with
Neil Cole
, the founder of the
Candie's
Foundation
. Good morning to you both. Great to have you here.
Ms. BRISTOL PALIN (The Candie's Foundation):
Thanks for having us here.
Mr. NEIL COLE (Founder, The Candie's Foundation):
Hi. Thanks for having us.
MORALES:
And this is actually your second year being a part of this campaign. Why is the message so important to you?
Ms. PALIN:
It's so important to me because I'm living it, and I just want to help educate others and use
Candie's
Foundation
as the platform and just do that.
MORALES:
And I
know you're loving being a mom. We were talking about you now have 15-month-old
Tripp
.
Ms. PALIN:
Yes.
MORALES:
Just an absolutely gorgeous
little boy
. You were telling
Matt
that he said his first sentence. What was that?
Ms. PALIN:
I asked where my
little sister
was and he just said, `I don't know.' Just completely clear.
MORALES:
Wow. He blows my 18-month-old. He's not speaking in sentences yet. But you talk about the realities of being a teen mom and a
single parent
. How is that for you?
Ms. PALIN:
It's extremely difficult. I mean, I am his sole provider and it's very difficult.
And I
think that by me speaking out that it will help others and it will put like a real factor to
teen pregnancy
.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. What have you had to give up personally in your life to be a mom?
Ms. PALIN:
Oh, I don't even know where to begin. Pretty much everything. Lots of freedom and things like that, just because he does rely on me.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But knowing what you know now, being a mom, you -- would you do anything differently?
Ms. PALIN:
I mean, I wish I could be older and have him just so that I have a career lined up and be in a stable relationship and
stuff like that
.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. And this is not an abstinence campaign, important to point out. But yet you do have a strong point of view on abstinence before marriage.
Ms. PALIN:
Yeah, correct. Just for me personally, that's just the decision that I'm going to make. But what we're trying to do is just educate
teens
, and that's what's important to us right now.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. And
Neil
, as we mentioned, 750,000
teens
become pregnant every year. I mean, the statistics are staggering. And you're seeing these reality
TV shows
on
MTV
which are dealing with this as well and trying to put a spotlight on these young moms and what they're having to deal with. How difficult is it for
teens
and what do they give up, the sacrifices that they're making?
Mr. COLE:
Well, it's incredibly difficult for
teens
. And, you know, you can look at the teenager, but it's also look at the baby and what happens with the baby after he's born. You know, the statistics are staggering as far as, you know, everything that happens with all stages of the generation. But to your point about the media, the media plays such an important role.
MORALES:
Yeah.
Mr. COLE:
We just did a study with
Seventeen magazine
and the
Candie's
Foundation
. And we found out that teenagers are incredibly influenced by shows like "
Gossip Girl
" and "Jersey Show."
MORALES:
Right.
Mr. COLE:
So we need to have
PSAs
and we need to have what
MTV
's doing with "16 and Pregnant" to do the other side, to show
teens
it's not glamorous.
MORALES:
Right. It's a hardship in a lot of ways.
Mr. COLE:
It's incredibly difficult and it -- and it totally changes your life and makes it so you can't have all the wonderful things that happen as a teenager. And you can be great mother and just -- you have to wait.
MORALES:
And the role that parents play, so important.
Bristol
, do you remember having that conversation with your parents about sex?
Ms. PALIN:
Yes, definitely. And, you know, there's just so much to be said about that. I just think that
PSAs
like this are just going to open up more dialogue to be talking about that.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, we hope so, definitely. And
Neil
, I mean, the message that
teens
certainly are getting, as you said, the media, you know, the influence, but when it comes to having that dialogue with parents what more can we do besides explaining to them, you know, what you need to be doing?
Mr. COLE:
Well, having two teenage boys...
MORALES:
Yeah.
Mr. COLE:
...I know how difficult it is to talk to teenagers. So what we try to do is talk to them through entertaining them with wonderful celebrities and public figures like
Bristol
. And we've done past work with hundreds of celebrities. So we try to educate them and talk on a peer-to-peer basis rather than preaching to them and telling them, `Don't have sex.' We try to make them aware of the consequences and try to do it in an innovative way at the
Candie's
Foundation
.
MORALES:
Mm-hmm. And
Bristol
, I know you say you count yourself very lucky because you have a very supportive family. So not a lot of
teens
can say the same, though.
Ms. PALIN:
Yeah. Yeah, correct.
And I
think that's what this
PSA
is all about, too.
MORALES:
Is having your parents really help support you in every way.
Ms. PALIN:
Yeah.
MORALES:
Thank you so much
.
Bristol Palin
,
Neil Cole
, great to see you.
“ ”