This is a good one. I promise.
I'm pro-choice. Always have been. It's nobody's damn business what any woman does, medically or otherwise, with her body. I don't want people telling me I can't have tattoos or MUST have a child. It's not their life, it's not their business, and it's not their problem.
That being said, this article caught my interest, with the headline blip reading, Pregnant Teen Wins Abortion Battle. Here, have a look-see. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting, and I'm ashamed to admit it occurred in Texas. Yes, I live in a very RED state, but I like to think we're not THIS stupid.
Now, to clarify, I'm not saying the initial judgment of preventing the family from forcing the girl to have an abortion was stupid. She's an idiot, it's a fact, but I feel it would be horribly traumatizing for her to be forced through a medical procedure, ANY medical procedure, that she was not willing to consent to.
My first problem with this whole situation was the judge's decision that it was the girl's RIGHT to have the car and the cell phone. It was claimed that "her parents had taken away her phone, pulled her out of school, forced her to get two jobs and took away her car in an effort to "make her miserable so that she would give in to the coercion and have the abortion."" You know what it sounds like to me? It really sounds like the parents were trying to OPEN HER STUPID EYES to reality. With a baby, guess what? You can't go to school. You will need two jobs without an education. You probably won't be able to afford a phone. And the car? I'd bet my ass that it was their car, not hers.
Like many noters asked... when did having a car and a cell phone become a right, especially for a snotty teenager? Taking away things that parents have purchased and allowed their children to use has been, in my understanding, a historically used method of discipline and punishment. Maybe I just got that wrong and my parents weren't aware of my 'rights' under the law? Damn, should've sued them for my car. You know, the one I had a right to, without paying for the car, the gas, the insurance, and the maintenance.
My second and much larger problem with this scenario is the judge's decision that the girl's parents will be liable for half of the medical bill once she gives birth UNLESS the girl marries the father of the child. This is really kind of sick. It's punishing the parents for something they didn't want, didn't do, and tried to prevent, and it's pushing the girl into getting married at age 16 to another 16 year old, and both of them obviously aren't very bright, considering they couldn't even follow the picture directions on a condom wrapper.
I get it, the judge was pro-life, the girl didn't want to be forced into having an abortion, whatever. Why not settle with the parents for the child being put up for adoption? Why would any supposedly educated person support the idea of a 16-year-old girl and her 16-year-old boyfriend getting married and having a child? This whole case is insane. Perhaps the parents went about it a little harsher than would be preferred for the situation, but really?
If the teenage girl thinks she's prepared and capable of bringing a baby into the world and carrying for it, let her try, but if she wants to be seen as an independent adult, don't force her parents to care for her and pay for it. She shouldn't have it both ways. Either she needs her parents and should be required to listen to them and follow their rules and punishments, or she can do this herself and they should be allowed to wash their hands of the situation. Harsh, but what is she learning by having a judge order her parents to care for her and give her everything she wants? If you don't like what someone tells you, sue them and let the judge tell them they have to listen?
Crazy world..
TxT
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