Jenna Bush has been in the news and blogs a good amount lately due to her wedding last weekend. A lot of the blogs I read and most of the blogs I avoid have talked about Jenna only to make fun of her, so I just want to come to her defense and point out what a smart, pro-contraception lady she is.
A lot of people still picture Jenna as a chronic underage-drinking party girl, and I don’t think they’re to be blamed. That’s the image that a lot of liberals love because they disagree with her father’s policies and think that means they should make fun of his daughter too. What Jenna has really been up to lately is interning for UNICEF in Latin America and writing books. Her book Ana’s Story is about a 16-year-old HIV-positive mother who is based on a girl Jenna met while working for UNICEF. In the book, Jenna writes that abstinence is great, but that it’s important to use condoms if you do decide to have sex. That makes so much sense coming from her because she’s smart, savvy, and maybe even a little bit progressive. She also surprised what seems like everyone but me the other day when she appeared on Larry King and said she hadn’t decided who to vote for in November.
I’m totally using Jenna’s pro-birth control stance as an excuse to defend her here, but I really do think it’s important that we start divorcing her politics from her father’s because they’re hardly even similar. Jenna does good work and I hope she’ll continue to be a powerful voice for comprehensive sex education.
