The Planned Parenthood

R. R. Reno over at First Things has some interesting insights into the alleged “pregnancy pact”:

…it seems pretty clear that some teenage girls in Gloucester wanted to get pregnant, talked about it with their friends, and succeeded in conceiving. The school offers free pregnancy testing, and the school nurse reported girls celebrating when the tests came back positive. So, official pact or not, there has been an upsurge in Gloucester of something that our oh-so-inclusive age finds alien and threatening: planned teen pregnancies.

One predictable reaction has focused on sex education, or more accurately the bemoaned lack thereof. If only the students had better information about the real consequences of sexual intercourse! If only the school health clinic were permitted to dispense birth control pills! If only Gloucester didn’t suffer from the repressive mentality of a majority Catholic culture!

Hello. We’re talking about girls who wanted to get pregnant. Is it so difficult to notice that girls who want to get pregnant are not victims of supposedly prudish culture that won’t teach children the truth about sex and give them condoms?

Another reaction is less easily dismissed: It’s not about sex but parenting. If only these girls knew the extraordinary difficulties of raising a child, then they never would have done such a silly thing! So the way to prevent teen pregnancies is to dramatize the challenges of motherhood, especially single motherhood.

Mr. Reno says he has to chuckle about these reactions - especially the suggestion of “if they only knew”, that would have stopped them. My reaction is this - given what we teach our children these girls did absolutely nothing wrong.

Now, as a Christian I can say quite properly that what the girls - and the boys who impregnated them - did was wrong. But our society is, at least in popular culture, entirely post-Christian. These girls violated very basic Christian morality, but what they did is entirely in keeping with the morality prevalent in our public square in 2008. To throw up our hands in horror and ask how this could have happened is akin to a drunk asking how he could have passed out on the floor again: We tell the kids how to have sex; we refuse to tell them not to have sex; we refuse to impart to them Judeo-Christian morality; we do impart to them the concept that “right” and “wrong” are mere social constructs subject to our individual will; we place no moral opprobrium on those who engage in extramarital sex and/or have children out of wedlock - and in conjunction with this we propagandise them massively via books, magazines, music, movies and television that sex is just the coolest thing anyone can do. What is surprising is that many of our youngsters still refuse to be drawn into this sort of thing - not at all surprising that large numbers of them get into it.

People make rational decisions based upon the information they have - we are, after all is said and done, creatures who have reason at our command…the only thing which can be different from one person to another is the sort of information they have to base their decisions upon. Can anyone out there demonsrate that these girls had information which in any way, shape or form would dissuade them from their actions? Only if its Judeo-Christianity…and we don’t know if they had any of it at all or, if they did, how strongly they had been instructed in it vis a vis how strongly they were instructed in the morality of our public square. If this event in any way disturbs you, then there’s only one thing for you to do - insist upon a greater application of Judeo-Christian values.

Tags: birth control, Judeo-Christian Civilizaiton, pregnancy pact, sex education, teen pregnancy

16 comments July 6th, 2008

Subsidising Immorality

The Death of Civilization, part 1,957:

Pregnant students in a Denver high school are asking for at least four weeks of maternity leave so they can heal, bond with their newborns and not be penalized with unexcused absences.

The request is unusual in Colorado’s public schools, where districts tend to deal with pregnant students or new moms with specialized programs or individualized education plans.

Denver Public Schools has no districtwide policy, leaving it up to schools to work out plans for students to continue their education.

Two counselors from East High School approached the school board last month, saying the policy at their school is unfair and inconsiderate because it forces new moms to return to school the day after being discharged from the hospital or face being charged with unexcused absences.

“My initial reaction is if we are punishing girls like that, that is unacceptable,” said Nicole Head, one of the counselors who brought the matter to the school board last month. “We’ve got to do something.”

East High School administrators could not be reached for comment over the winter break, but district officials say they are reviewing the policy on absences to make it “friendlier” to new moms, said DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez.

How about making it friendlier for good, old morality? You know, like pointing out to the kids who are getting pregnant while in high school that there’s a price to be paid for everything, including that proverbial few moments of illicit pleasure? All such a program would do is mainstream illegitmate parenthood - perhaps, in a sick way, even make it “cool” to be pregnant, as it gives you an easy out of class for a while plus special consideration when you get back.

Better solution: advise young people who have worked themselves into pregnancy that their options are to put the kid out for adoption, or drop out of school and start working their tails off to support their child. You know, make life real for them - they want to play at mommy and daddy? Let them understand that such a game can have real world consequences.

Tags: public schools, teen pregnancy

95 comments January 9th, 2008