Bristol Palin, 18, went “On the Record” Monday with Greta Van Susteren in her first TV interview since giving birth to her 2-month-old son, Tripp. 

On the one hand, she was touted by some as a new spokesperson against teen pregnancy.  After all, she stated that she would have preferred waiting to give birth until she was much older.  But that was the weaker hand being played, regardless of what Palin intended.  As a pretty, intelligent, poised and smiling teenager on national television with a cute baby, Palin has, perhaps unwittingly, become a spokesperson for teen pregnancy.

Palin told Van Susteren that her baby brings “so much joy,” she doesn’t regret giving birth to him at all.  She just wishes he had entered her life about ten years later.  She, like Jamie Lynn Spears, is helping paint a picture of teen mothers as happy, strong and confident young women, enjoying the limelight and making the best of things with the support of their loving families.

Palin looked as well-kempt and well-rested as she was well-spoken.  There was no desperation in her voice.  She shed no tears of panic or guilt.  She hasn’t sworn off sex.  She hasn’t sworn off unprotected sex.  By all appearances, she genuinely loves her baby and is committed to him.  Just like Spears.

So what’s the problem?  Why would American teenaged girls, who are desperately seeking something genuine to cling to in their lives, something more to believe in than their friends’ Facebook profiles, take Palin’s life story as a cautionary tale?  Why wouldn’t they see it, instead, as an antidote to the meaninglessness of ceaseless instant messaging, the interpersonal black hole of cyberspace, the emptiness of hooking up with one sexual partner after another, often beginning in seventh grade, if not sooner?

In a world where the stock market is crashing, major industries are dissolving, drugs are rampant and the government desperately needs to regain credibility, the gaze of an infant looking back into one’s eyes can be the kind of humanity that teenagers intuit will anchor them to something genuine.

For millions of American girls, Palin and Spears are, whether they like it or not, defining the leading edge of what I believe is a new social, cultural moment in America in which girl-women aged 15 through 17 are actually losing their fear of motherhood and entertaining the concept of having babies as a matter of free choice and free will. 

This is just the beginning of the example Palin and Spears are setting.  There will be countless very cute photographs of their babies.  Magazines will cover these girls as they take their children to their first day of nursery school. There will be coverage of their love affairs, engagements and weddings.  If they hold themselves together and life brings them joy (which I sincerely hope it does), they will be glamorized for their boldness, their commitment to their kids and their inevitable personal achievements.

Teenagers are not going to look at Palin or Spears and think how horrifying it would be to be them.  More than likely, they are going to look at these trailblazers and be envious — whether consciously or unconsciously.  These “girl-women” look like they have it all.

All we need now to seal the deal and create even more of a groundswell in favor of early childbirth is a special bailout plan for young, unwed mothers.  Maybe a free General Motors Hybrid SUV and government-insured mortgage would do the trick?

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com or e-mail him at info@keithablow.com.

With films such as “Juno” scoring well among critics and moviegoers last year and the media’s great attention to the birth Thursday of 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears’ daughter, many say teen pregnancy is being glamorized in the media.Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and FOX News contributor, said factors such as these may have played into a reported pregnancy pact made by girls at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass., where the pregnancy rate has quadrupled in the past year.

School officials were baffled at first, but they soon discovered nearly half of the 17 expectant moms had made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies, school principal Joseph Sullivan told Time.com.

In the wake of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus posing in makeup and not much else for Vanity Fair, Hugh Hefner has stated that he would like to see Miley pose naked for Playboy—when she turns 18.
I believe Hefner’s offer, albeit cloaked in the disclaimer that Miley has to be legal to strip for him, may herald a challenge to the current age of sexual consent—which is between 16 and 18 in almost all states, lower only in South Carolina (and only when the sexual partners are both young).

What Hefner chose to do was to express being sexually attracted to an underage girl.  He knows that he is perceived as freeing American men to express their sexuality.  In this case, he is presumably leading the way in suggesting that men ought to feel free to direct their sexual fantasies toward 15-year-olds—bemoaning, perhaps, the fact that they will have to impatiently wait to get them out of their clothes.

I don’t know that Hefner would have felt restrained were Miley just 14.  Maybe even a fetching 13  After all, he wasn’t the one who suggested that Miley get almost-naked for Vanity Fair.  And she certainly didn’t look ill-at-ease with her sexuality in that magazine.  She looked seductive. 
Disney didn’t recoil in horror.  Miley is Money.  The show goes on, no matter how much she chooses to show.
That seeming comfort with sexuality—at 15, or less—is part of the issue here.  We know that many 15-year-olds are sexually active.  According to some data, one in three ninth graders has had sexual intercourse. 

The age of puberty has been steadily declining.

Hefner’s comment is, nonetheless, a kind of gauntlet thrown down to the legal age of consent:  He isn’t in ninth grade.  He’s an adult man.  He is openly attracted to an underage girl.  And he doesn’t seem worried about saying so.

This potential chapter in the story of the sexual revolution wasn’t written by Hefner, though.  Signs that Americans are rethinking age-appropriate sexual activity are everywhere. 

After all, the American public embraced, rather than shunned, Jamie Lynn Spears after her pregnancy.  Untold millions of magazines that showcase her new home and the birth of her daughter and her daughter’s first birthday will be sold. 

Will the fact that she is an unwed, pregnant 16-year-old with more media attention than ever suggest to young girls around America that they, too, can start their families sooner, rather than later?  Will they wonder what have they been waiting for?

Only time will tell.  But one thing is clear:  The time that was once allowed teenaged girls to slowly grow into being sensual, to play at adulthood without being treated by older men as adults, is under assault.  And you partly have the media to thank for that:  The unlikely and powerful alliance of Disney, Vanity Fair and Playboy.

Keith Ablow, M.D. is a psychiatrist, FOX News contributor and the founder of www.LivingtheTruth.com