Papa Don't Preach - Legacy

Legacy

As the song's popularity increased in the U.S., so did the criticism and support it received from groups concerned with pregnancy and abortion. In July 1986, shortly after the release of the video for "Papa Don't Preach", Madonna commented on the controversy surrounding the song, to music critic Stephen Holden from The New York Times:

"Papa Don't Preach" is a message song that everyone is going to take the wrong way. Immediately they're going to say I am advising every young girl to go out and get pregnant. When I first heard the song, I thought it was silly. But then I thought, wait a minute, this song is really about a girl who is making a decision in her life. She has a very close relationship with her father and wants to maintain that closeness. To me it's a celebration of life. It says, 'I love you, father, and I love this man and this child that is growing inside me'. Of course, who knows how it will end? But at least it starts off positive."

People who criticized the song's message included Ellen Goodman, a national syndicated columnist, who called the video "a commercial for teenage pregnancy". Feminist lawyer Gloria Allred, the spokeswoman of the National Organization for Women (NOW), angrily called for Madonna to make a public statement or another record supporting the opposite point of view. Alfred Moran, the executive director of Planned Parenthood of New York City, also criticized the song, fearing that it would undermine efforts to promote birth control among adolescents and that it would encourage teenage pregnancy. Recalling how his agency's clinics were filled in 1985 with girls wearing clothes that were an imitation of Madonna's style, Moran said that the song's message is "that getting pregnant is cool and having the baby is the right thing and a good thing and don't listen to your parents, the school, anybody who tells you otherwise—don't preach to me, Papa. The reality is that what Madonna is suggesting to teenagers is a path to permanent poverty."

In contrast, groups opposed to abortion saw "Papa Don't Preach" as a positive, pro-life song. Susan Carpenter-McMillan, the president of the California chapter of Feminists for Life (FFL) in the U.S., said that "abortion is readily available on every street corner for young women. Now what Madonna is telling them is, hey, there's an alternative." Tipper Gore, a founder of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), who a year earlier denounced Madonna for the sexual lyrical content of her single "Dress You Up", and had led a campaign against explicit content in music, commended Madonna for speaking candidly about such a serious subject and important social issue.

The song's writer, Brian Elliot, commented about the debate: "I just wanted to make this girl in the song a sympathetic character. As a father myself, I'd want to be accessible to my children's problems." Madonna avoided the controversy, and did not comment on the song's use as a pro-life statement. Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said that "she is singing a song, not taking a stand", adding that "her philosophy is people can think what they want to think."