Robert Christgau in a review for "The Village Voice" felt that "she [Madonna] doesn't speak for the ordinary teenaged stiff any more than Reagan speaks for the union members", adding that "while the antiabortion content of 'Papa Don't Preach' isn't unequivocal, and wouldn't make the song bad by definition if it were, the ambiguity is a cop-out rather than an open door, which is bad."