What If the Palin Family Had Taken the Low Road?

Let’s imagine that Bristol Palin, in consultation with her family, had decided to have an abortion. The single most talked-about controversy regarding Palin’s VP nomination would be no controversy at all. And there certainly wouldn’t be any talk of “scandal.”

The Palins have not taken the politically expedient path of aborting a child. Can there be any doubt that others have taken the low road, found relief in a woman’s legal right to choose, and avoided a spectacle altogether? It’s possible that for some, political calculation was the most critical factor in a decision to have an abortion.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many candidates for high office have had unmarried daughters who elected to have an abortion (sons responsible for the pregnancy of an unmarried woman should be included in this thought experiment)? But that’s something we’ll never know.