This week’s In Touch features mother daughter team Sarah and Bristol Palin holding up their babies with the title “We’re glad we chose life.” Jezebel has some highlights from the article, and it sounds like the typical “life at home” interview complete with plenty of cute photos. There’s some mild introspection from Bristol, who comes across as a well grounded and self aware young woman. The pro-life message, as positive as it is with the babies and family pictures, should have been saved for the end of the article. The title just makes me bristle. Why can’t they show off their little ones without making it political? Plus, so much of that pro-life material tries to make women feel guilty so that they won’t have an abortion. They could alternately title this cover “We kept our babies – did you?” Still, this In Touch cover might be considered an improvement over last week’s “Jealous Rage Over Jen!” or “Angelina’s Revenge Pregnancy” from three weeks ago.

Sarah, 45, and Bristol, 19, are raising their sons Trig, 21 months, and Tripp, who turned one on December, together in the same home. Sarah found out during a prenatal checkup that her son Trig would be born with Down syndrome. She chose to take the pregnancy to term and mentioned in her new biography Going Rogue that she very briefly considered abortion. She later made the very misleading and misinformed statement that the new health care plan would include “death panels” that mete out care according to patients’ contribution to society, and might chose not to treat her child. “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.” Oh Sarah, you know just enough to warp things beyond recognition.

In their much less polarizing In Touch interview, Sarah said that Bristol takes responsibility for raising Tripp while Bristol mildly yearned for the things she may be missing out on by becoming a mother so young.

On raising their boys together
Now, the mother and daughter are sharing a unique experience — raising baby boys together under the same roof, along with Sarah’s husband, Todd, and their other children, Willow, 15, and Piper, 8.

While Sarah is extremely proud of Bristol, she hasn’t coddled her or taken over mothering duties. She lets Bristol learn and make mistakes on her own, and it’s understood that Bristol will support Tripp financially as much as possible — which means buying her own diapers and formula.

“There’s no mistaking that Tripp is her baby, and she is in charge,” Sarah explains. “this whole experience has made her grow up so quickly , but she has taken total responsibility and never gripes about it.”

Bristol on the difficulties of motherhood
“Tripp is the love of my life — I couldn’t ask for a better baby,” she insists. “But the reality is I’m 19 years old and I have a one-year-old. I wish I could be in my 20s with a baby and not be in my 20s. Just having him so young — I have to work, and I have to provide for him, because I’m a single mom.”

Having Tripp so young was a mistake, Bristol admits: “I should have waited.” but she can’t imagine her life without him. “Tripp is awesome,” she says. “It’s going to be a special relationship, a special bond. I’m glad I chose life.”

Bristol on dealing with the split from Levi Johnston
After she gave birth to her son, Tripp, in December 2008 — and broke up with her boyfriend, Levi Johnston — the reality of single motherhood quickly set in. “I remember sitting on a black recliner, just bawling my eyes out,” Bristol tells In Touch. “I was just rocking Tripp to sleep because he had been screaming for so long. I was just like, ‘What am I going to do? This is as bad as it gets.”

[From In Touch Weekly compiled via Jezebel and In Touch’s Website]

Sarah’s baby Trig has congenital heart defects and some medical problems associated with his condition that seem to be well managed. He’s doing pretty well, according to the article. My favorite photo that’s been leaked online is one of Trig and Tripp sitting on rocking horses in the living room and smiling at each other. You can tell that they’re good friends.

It really strikes me that Bristol Palin has barely sought the spotlight since her mother’s campaign. While her famewh*re ex boyfriend has been posing in Playgirl and trash-talking her mom to any outlet that will have him, Bristol has held her tongue and raised her son in virtual silence. It’s nice to see a relatively neutral, positive interview in which she focuses on her life as a mom. Bristol has really come out on top in this whole drama-filled debacle.

In Touch images via Popeater and Jezebel