What I Really Said About Bristol

Anti-choice blogs have been on a rampage, slamming me over
and over with allegations neither accurate nor true. 

I'm quite accustomed to their techniques of misleading readers
in an attempt to persuade by histrionics and lies if truth doesn't
work. So I'm not about to waste my time in a food fight with them. 

On the other hand, when someone asks me a legitimate question about
something attributed to me, I try to to reply. This interchange with
a woman I'll call Denise is an example I'd like to share with you, in
hopes it will encourage civil discourse about issues that elicit
strong feelings:

Subject:Your statement about Bristol Palin and abortion 

Gloria Feldt:

I noticed an article on September 4, 2008 in Lifenews.com 
that speaks of your response to Bristol Palin's pregnancy.
You make a statement that"Bristol probably does not feel
that she has a choice in regard to abortion because of
her parents views on abortion." Could you please forward
to me information that confirms this view of Bristol
Palin probably wanting to have an abortion. Thank you
for your time.
Denise


Dear Denise,
Lifenews has both misquoted me and misconstrued what I said; that's
not unusual. They aren't generally very interested in actual facts.
Also they can't seem to get it through their heads that I am an
independent commentator now. I don't represent any organization, though
I do have a lifetime of expertise--both personal and professional.

I was quoted by Bonnie Fuller in her Huffington Post article about
Bristol.

I have included below the paragraphs before and after where she
quoted me(of course, I said more during the interview as well; one
never feels that one's quote is entirely in context, but such is life).
Obviously when you read the entire piece, however, you see I was
speaking about the importance for any woman to feel she truly does
have a choice in what is happening with her body and her life. I
deliberately didn't refer to any one choice over another, because
that's the point--she should be able to determine her own fate.
Personally, I believe it is a human right and a moral obligation to
make one's own childbearing decisions and be responsible for them.
I don't judge Bristol's choice--I made the same one myself many years
ago. Here's the excerpt with my quote in the middle paragraph:




No wonder getting pregnant in high school is truly a girl's
worst nightmare, points out Atoosa Rubenstein, the founding
editor-in-chief ofCosmoGIRL! magazine, and later the editor
of Seventeen magazine. BristolPalin should have "the
protection of her mother right now and not be
paraded around as a platform. She should have had the
privacy to make her own difficult choices and now she has
to support her mother's ambition and policies regardless of
what she wants for herself — she's been thrown under a bus,"
believes Rubenstein.

"She probably feels powerless right now," points out Gloria Feldt,
who is the author of Behind Every Choice is a Story, and is
the former president of Planned Parenthood of America. "Because
of her family's attitude she probably doesn't feel that she has
a choice,in terms of what will happen to her and her mother is
weaving a narrative that it's a heroic thing that she is going
forward with the pregnancy, she's getting married and it will
all be beautiful and rosy."

But Bristol Palin isn't a policy poster child, or a celebrity,
she's areal live 17-year-old trying to cover her growing bump
with a baggy sweatshirt or by holding her 4 month-old baby
brother as a shield. She's now planning, according to her mom's
statement, to marry and spend her life with her 18-year-old
boyfriend, Levi Johnston, a guy who uses the "f" word as his major
descriptive adjective on his MySpace page. He also until yesterday
described himself as someone who "likes to hang out with the boys
...and just f---in chillin," and who doesn't want kids on that
same page, until it was yanked off of public view.


Best regards,
Gloria Feldt

Denise replied as follows, making my effort of responding to her
worthwhile:

I want to thank you so much for your reply - I honestly did not expect a
reply from you and I am so thankful that you took the time to email me
back with your response. I must say that I have a totally different
opinion of you now, regardless of our agreeing on all points, etc. I
believe you are fair and honest and will watch for information regarding
you and your points of view with a new interest. Again, thank you so
much for your time and response. 


Gloria Feldt
GLORIA FELDT is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, a sought-after speaker and frequent contributor to major news outlets, and the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. People has called her “the voice of experience,” and among the many honors she has been given, Vanity Fair called her one of America’s “Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers,” and Glamour chose her as a “Woman of the Year.”
As co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a leading women’s leadership nonprofit, her mission is to achieve gender parity by 2025 through innovative training programs, workshops, a groundbreaking 50 Women Can Change The World immersive, online courses, a free weekly newsletter, and events including a monthly Virtual Happy Hour program and a Take The Lead Day symposium that reached over 400,000 women globally in 2017.



	

								

		

			

	

	

		

	
	
	

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