You know how Bristol Palin was bragging about how her parents don’t support her financially, but then we heard that she charges $30,000 a pop for speaking at pro life and abstinence events despite her lack of qualification on many levels? It looks like Bristol’s price has gone down, or maybe she lowered it as a courtesy to a charity, because she’s being paid $14,000 by a pro-life Christian home for unwed mothers to speak at a fundraiser. Maybe Bristol’s presence will bring in enough publicity and additional donations to Life House, in Louisville, KY, to justify her steep speaking fee, but I doubt it. In an interview with a local paper, one of the program’s directors said that Bristol’s fee is cheaper than other speakers they were considering, like Laura Ingraham. They admit that Bristol isn’t a role model, though:

Bristol Palin — the teen mother whose turbulent relationship with her son’s father has added a soap-opera subplot to her mother Sarah’s political career — will speak Sept. 8 on behalf of a home for single mothers in Louisville.

Palin, 19, will receive $14,000 to speak at a benefit at the Louisville Marriot Downtown on behalf of the Lifehouse, which was founded in 2007 and has operated in a brick house on Riedling Drive, a quiet street off Zorn Avenue.

The $125-per-person benefit will raise funds toward plans to double the home’s capacity, but it’s also intended to bring publicity to the program after its low-key startup, executive director Joan Smith said.

“We needed the community to know that we’re here,” Smith said. Until recently, “everything we’ve done has been by word of mouth,” she said.

To date, women staying at the program have given birth to 17 babies. Two of the mothers gave up their children for adoption, and the rest chose to raise them. Some of the clients leave the program while still pregnant, she said.

The non-denominational Christian program provides women with shelter, health care, counseling, classes in taking care of themselves and their children and aid toward their education.

“I’m one who believes if we’re going to say, ‘Don’t abort your baby,’ you have to offer alternatives,” said Smith, a registered nurse.

A team of volunteers has done everything to enovating the former four-unit house into a single-family residence so that the women can share meals, chores and other household life, she said. They also receive professional medical care.

She spoke in an interview with program director Sondra Warren in the basement office of the home, whose walls are adorned with Bible verses, paintings of the babies and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Bibles share shelf space with the pregnancy bible, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Cribs, play centers, baby gates and other staples of infant care serve as reminders of the home’s mission.

Smith said Bristol Palin, who has become a speaker advocating sexual abstinence before marriage, is relatively inexpensive compared to other speakers the group considered, such as conservative talk-radio host Laura Ingraham.

She said the goal of hosting Palin wasn’t to politicize the event, nor was it to hold her up as an ideal.

“A role model to me would be that young woman who chooses to complete her high school and go directly into college and remain chaste until she’s married,” Smith said.

But Palin’s life “is the reality,” she said. “She is a role model in the fact that she chose to have her child.”

[From The Courier Journal, thanks to Oxa for the tip]

Yes Bristol chose to have her child, but she’s getting paid more for an hour’s time than most other high school graduates can expect to make in several months. It was a relatively easy choice for her. Still, it sounds like a worthy program that tries to help young single moms get the education, healthcare and housing they need to get their babies off to a good start. I would think more highly of them if they didn’t just shell out $14k to book Bristol Palin, but maybe they think the PR is worth it. They should also invest in a copywriter for their website.

Meanwhile Bristol’s ex, Levi Johnston, has filed the paperwork necessary to run for Mayor of Wasila, AK. He previously admitted that it wasn’t his idea to run for mayor, that he thought it was a joke at first, and that it was pitched to him by producers for his new reality show. Levi has started filming the show, but is having trouble getting any networks interested in it. Levi wants to feature his 18 month-old son Tripp for the cute factor, but both Tripp’s mom Bristol and grandmother Sarah disapprove and it’s assumed they won’t allow it.