Palin pregnancy and Irish hypocrisy

THE reaction of the Irish media to the news that Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter is pregnant highlighted the deep-rooted hypocrisy in our society around such issues.

You would be forgiven for thinking that no Irish family had ever found itself in this situation, such was the wave of tut-tutting that surrounded the story.

With an estimated 7,000 teenage pregnancies here last year (that’s one in every 40 teenage girls age 15-19), are we really in any position to cast judgment on the Palin family?