Teen Mom Bristol Palin: the New Face of Abstinence

May 6, 2009 — -- She has a healthy baby boy who has just learned to sit up, but Bristol Palin said she's using her fame to tell other teens to do what she didn't do -- abstain from sex.

"Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only ... 100 percent foolproof way to prevent pregnancy," she told "Good Morning America" today, backing away from a previous statement on Fox News that abstinence wasn't realistic, saying it was taken out of context.

The spotlight has been on the 18-year-old since her pregnancy was announced a few days after her mother accepted the offer to become the GOP's vice presidential nominee. She's now using that spotlight to promote a national campaign to raise awareness for teen pregnancy prevention.

The daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was appointed as a teen ambassador for the New York City-based Candie's Foundation because she believes she could be a living example of the consequences of teen pregnancy, which is foundation's mission.

"It's a hard choice, but it's the safest choice and it's the best choice," Palin said.

Neil Cole, founder of the Candie's Foundation, said the company, which manufactures shoes marketed to teens, wanted to use that relationship to help prevent teen pregnancy.

"Just because you're wearing high-heeled sexy shoes doesn't mean you should have a baby," he said.

Palin's is a poignant message on this National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

"I don't see myself as a celebrity; I don't want to be one," she said. "But I think using this experience in my life to help others, I think it's a blessing."

Palin said telling her mother and father that she was pregnant was "harder than labor."

"I knew that it would be a huge shock and a huge surprise for my parents," she said, adding that their disappointment eventually turned into support. "I hope that me speaking out now will prevent girls from having to do that in the future."

Palin said son Tripp, born in December, is sitting up, rolling over and starting to giggle. "He's doing awesome," she said. "He's getting so big and so chubby."

But Palin said he life consists mainly of school, diapers, bottles and chores, all on a "few hours of sleep."

"It's a 24-hour job and that's a huge responsibility," she said. "Your priorities completely change once you have a baby."

But Palin said giving up the baby or terminating the pregnancy was never an option. "I knew from the second I found out I was pregnant I was going to keep the baby," she said.

Still, if she could do it all over again, Palin said she would wait to have sex. "My son is a blessing. He's the best thing that ever happened to me He's the love of my life but I do wish that years from now I could have had the same son."