Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin at the Republican convention.

Unfortunately, teenaged pregnancies are not the least bit unusual these days. But what you don't hear about all that often is teen parents who take the additional step of actually getting married.

But that's what Levi Johnston, the young man who's having the baby with Gov. Sarah Palin's 17-year-old, plans to do. The media-shy high school student, plans to drop out of school and go to work in the Alaskan oil fields as an apprentice electrician.

And, no, the rumors and the jokes, that he was forced into marrying Bristol aren't true, he says. Despite the Republican vice presidential nominee's penchant for hunting, his summer wedding won't be a traditional shotgun situation.

"None of that's true," Johnston, 18, told The Associated Press. "We both love each other. We both want to marry each other. And that's what we are going to do."

Their baby is due Dec. 18.

But what about that MySpace page where he said, "I don't want kids." 
Johnston said his friends created the page and he had nothing to do with it.

So, what are the odds for his and Bristol's making it? Not too good, judging from statistics and what the experts have to say about it.

“Most young women don't fare very well when it comes to raising a family as a teenager, and those precious few who get married, the marriages are very short-lived,” Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy told a reporter with the New York Times News Service. “I know and respect a lot of 17-year-olds, but I don't think any of them are ready to be married and begin the lifelong task of raising a child.”

But aren't there advantages to at least trying to be a family, despite the overwhelming odds against teen parents? Even if it doesn't work out in the long run? Or do you think it's such a lost cause that teen parents shouldn't even attempt marriage until they're older?