Thursday, March 25, 2010

PLANNED OUTRAGE

Four months ago in Washington state, a 15 year old girl walked into her school clinic and took a pregnancy test.  When the test came up positive, the school put her in a cab and sent her to the local Planned Parenthood clinic. 

Alone.

Her parents were never notified.

The school did not break the law, because her mother had signed a consent form at the beginning of the year that gave permission for the school to send her daughter off premises for treatment.  No, it didn't specify abortion, but under Washington state law, at no age is a child required to inform her parents or get their permission if she wants an abortion.  Her mother, needless to say, was livid.  She found out about it four months later.  She assumed that the form she had signed back in September was in case of a medical emergency, such as a broken bone, or maybe even birth control.  But never did she imagine the school would use that form to facilitate and conceal the administration of an abortion for her child.  A procedure she had to go through completely alone.

That is what really sticks in my craw; as a mom, the thought of that young girl alone in that cab on her way to the abortion clinic breaks my heart.  Once there, she was admonished not to tell her parents, or they would have to pay for the abortion.  That girl faced a major watershed moment in her life alone.  Who was there to hold her and give her comfort after the deed was done?  No one. 

After this experience, she is going to view abortion in one of two ways, and neither one is comforting.

On the one hand, she could see it as not a big deal, and could, in the future, find herself in the clinic again and again.  After all, its no biggie - it's just another form of birth control, right?  It's just a clump of cells, not a baby - isn't that what Planned Parenthood preaches?

On the other hand, she could be emotionally scarred by what she has done and might spend the rest of her life regretting it or beating herself up for it. Abortion is the only clinical procedure out there with the potential to stain your soul.  Did she feel cut off from the main source of comfort a girl that age relies on when things really get tough - her mom?  Who happens to be pro-choice, by the way. She's  not one of those dreaded christian fundamentalists who would have forced the girl to keep the baby clump of cells.   Even if she had wanted to turn to her mom for comfort afterwards, let's not forget that she was admonished not to tell her parents or else they would have to pay the bill. 

This, to me, is the ultimate repercussions of the nanny state.  No longer, it seems, is your child your own to raise and counsel.  At the tender age of 15, she was viewed as an individual capable of mature, adult decisions without  guidance.  Now, we've all been 15, so we all know that at 15, decision making isn't really a strong point, generally speaking.  She needed the advice of someone who loves her, someone who has her best interests at heart.  Considering her mom is pro-choice, it still could have ended the same way even if her parents had been notified - but at least she would have had the comfort of having someone help her through it all.  Instead the state decided that she was a good candidate for abortion, and so abortion it was. 

As the mother of a teenaged daughter, I am appalled by this.  As far as I'm concerned, my child is my responsibility until she turns 18, not the state's, and all decisions regarding her person are her parent's to make.  As of 18, she is an adult and can begin making her own decisions - with a little advice when needed from her dad and me, of course.   The thought of a child of mine, young, scared and alone, going through all of that, trying to process it all...it tears me apart.

The most horrifying part is that soon we will be funding this.

In addition, Planned Parenthood has embarked on a sex ed campaign that is quite remarkable in it's....thoroughness.  Combine the two programs, and you have the stuff of which nightmares are made. Call me old fashioned, but I'm just not comfortable with Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, being 'in partnership' with our school systems for sex education.

The case in Washington state is the perfect example of a worst case scenario.


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2 comments:

Anonymous,  March 29, 2010 at 6:53 PM  

I was outraged, when I was in college and thought I was pregnant...went to a free clinic, that gave me a test..then threw me in a room (without letting me know my results) and proceeded to show me vidoes of dead fetuses....then came in and quoted bible verses to me....all i wanted to know was if I was pregnant or not and these jesus freaks were pushing the damn bible down my throat...well, I wasn't pregnant, they finally told me and I ran out of there and threw up...I now donaTE every year to PLANNED PARENTHOOD and hope that my daughter has that option available if needed.

Ripley March 31, 2010 at 9:08 PM  

Anonymous-

True to liberal form, you have missed the point entirely. First of all, in your comment you say that you were college aged when you thought you were pregnant. This means you were an adult - a far different situation. You also said that it turns out you were not pregnant, which means you did not have an abortion and thus, again, puts you in an entirely different situation. It is too bad that you were treated as you were, it sounds awful, but I wonder why a) you didn't just leave (or did the jesus freaks tie you down before they started quoting scripture at you?) and b) you didn't just go to the local pharmacy and buy a pregnancy test - you were an adult, no one would have thought twice about it. I know countless women who have had a pregnancy scare and run out to the drug store for an EPT - I've never met anyone who went to the free clinic for one. Why wait three hours for a clinic to administer a test when a three pack of EPT costs $15.99 and you can do it in the privacy of your own bathroom? Oh, and, what caused you to throw up - the bible verses or the pictures of the aborted fetuses? I'd guess it was the bible verses, since you seem so eager and happy to contribute to the mutilation and destruction of fetuses with your yearly donations to Planned Parenthood. If you choose to contribute to that, well, this is a free country and that is your right - I wouldn't presume to tell you how to spend your money. I would, however, like to have the ability to decide for myself if I am going to support the organization, too, instead of having the state make that decision for me.

Nowhere in my post did I say a pregnant 15 year old should not have an abortion. In fact, I stated that, being as the mother of the girl is pro-choice, the pregnancy would most likely have been terminated anyway. I did not condemn that action, I condemned the fact that a 15 year old girl had to go through it alone. She is still a child and, as such, her parents should have been notified before a surgical procedure was performed on her. Abortion is not just a physical procedure, it is an emotional journey for most women. Please note that I said that it has the "potential" to stain your soul - for most women it haunts them for years, but some women can do it with nary a second though, and those women are the exception, not the rule. In addition, as a parent, if my child has a surgical procedure that might possibly have adverse effects such as hemorraging or infection, I want to know about it so that I can make sure she heals properly or, if there are complications, I can get her to a doctor immediately. A child who hides an abortion is also quite likely to hide complications, no matter how dangerous. What if the abortion was incomplete and the child ended up with a raging infection that could run the risk of making her sterile or, God forbid, possibly risk her life? As a parent yourself, do you not see that? Would you not want to know?

Honestly, it seems you simply wanted to bash me and anyone else who disagrees with a school sending a 15 year old girl off to get an abortion without her parents being notified as "jesus freaks". You are entitled to your own opinion, of course, but your opinion was simply not relevant to my post. I am glad that in this country a woman can get a safe abortion if the necessity arises, but I object to abortion being used as a form of birth control and I strenuously object to children getting abortions without parental consent. If this makes me a "jesus freak" in your eyes, so be it. I personally think it just makes me a sensible, responsible adult and parent.

To be quite honest, your story sounds pretty thin, so I'll take it as your personal opinion on abortion, (not so) cleverly embroidered into a story. But thanks for posting!

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