Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Shortly after the announcement that she would become Senator John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has announced that her oldest daughter Bristol is pregnant. Bristol, who is 17 and unmarried, will keep her baby rather than having an abortion as so many teenagers do who become pregnant at a young age.

The Palin family released a statement on Monday saying they are proud of her daughter and her decision to keep her baby.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” Sarah and her husband Todd said.

“We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” the Palins added.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” they said.

The Palin announcement sent a shock throughout the political world, but initial pro-life reaction appears to be very supportive -- that Bristol would not have an abortion and hat the Palin family would provide the help and support she needs.

Dr. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says the Palin family has made a pro-life decision.“This is the pro-life choice. The fact that people will criticize her for this shows the astounding extent to which the secular critics of the pro-life movement just don’t get it,” he said.

Land said the Palin family’s decision stands in strong contrast to the comments pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama made previous about babies being a punishment.

“Those who criticize the Palin family don’t understand that we don’t see babies as a punishment but as a blessing,” Land said. “Barack Obama said that if one of his daughters made a mistake and got pregnant out of wedlock he wouldn’t want her to be punished with a child. Pro lifers don’t see a child as punishment.”

Barack Obama also chimed in on the pregnancy announcement and encouraged the media and political pundits not to make an issue of it.

"I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics.”

“It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” he added.

Obama also denied complaints that is campaign has attacks Governor Palin and her family on pro-abortion blogs and web sites on the Internet.

"I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us," he said. "Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be fired."

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