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Leaving Pregnant Teens In the Lurch

By Nancy Keenan, TomPaine.com. Posted July 25, 2006.


If Bill Frist and his anti-choice allies prevail, today's Senate vote on the Child Custody Protection Act could mean tragedy for pregnant teenagers.

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Today the Senate will vote on a dangerous and divisive proposal backed by Sen. Bill Frist that would do nothing to protect our young people or promote conversation between teens and their parents. Known as the Child Custody Protection Act , the bill would prohibit anyone other than a parent -- including a grandparent, aunt, adult sibling, or member of the clergy -- from accompanying a young woman across state lines for an abortion if the home state's parental-involvement law has not been met.

We all agree that teenage girls in trouble should turn to their parents for guidance, and thankfully, most already do. But CCPA would not improve a family situation that is already bad. Worse, it would put girls who, for whatever reason, can't talk to their parents about tough issues like sex into serious danger. In that case, we should urge a teenager to turn to another responsible adult -- like a grandmother or clergy member -- not isolate her.

The tragic story of 13-year-old Spring Adams in Idaho illustrates how CCPA could jeopardize young women's safety. Spring was shot to death by her father after he learned she was planning to terminate a pregnancy caused by his incest. If CCPA passes, trusted, caring and responsible adults would be faced with the threat of prosecution for responding to a young woman like Spring who approaches them because she fears involving her parent in her request for an abortion.

In one study, 93 percent of minors who did not involve a parent in their decision to obtain an abortion were still accompanied by someone to the doctor's office. Although legal abortion is very safe, it is typically advisable that any kind of medical patient have accompaniment, even for minor surgery. But the CCPA would force some minors to drive themselves to out-of-state clinics, without the help of trusted adults or friends.

This, along with concerns for doctor-patient confidentiality, is precisely why leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, advise against parental-involvement mandates.

Tuesday's vote on CCPA also begs the question of congressional priorities. If Congress is serious about the issue of abortion among young people, it should drop divisive anti-choice bills like CCPA and instead make a worthwhile investment in programs that prevent teen pregnancy in the first place.

The United States, where 866,000 teenagers become pregnant each year, has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and teen births in the Western industrialized world.

Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, both Democrats from New Jersey, are taking a more responsible approach to this challenge. Their proposal would fund teen-pregnancy-prevention programs in schools and community groups, pilot programs to teach young people about the serious responsibilities that come with parenthood, and programs that help parents talk to their kids about tough topics like sex.

Unfortunately, Frist and his anti-choice allies would rather play politics than find solutions. CCPA, like the gay-marriage ban, has long been on the right wing's to-do list. Frist's need to pacify his increasingly demoralized far-right base before the November elections -- not his concern for teen safety -- is the real reason CCPA is on the Senate floor.

While many constructive solutions to the problem of teen pregnancy do exist, CCPA isn't among them. Congress should fund programs that provide honest, realistic sex education, teach young people about the serious responsibilities that accompany parenthood, help parents talk to their children about difficult subjects like sex, and stop slashing budgets for after-school programs that keep kids out of trouble and on the road to success.

Prevention -- not punishment -- is the better path for Sen. Frist and the Senate to take.

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Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

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Everyone should have as many babies as possible
Posted by: Aussie Kim on Jul 25, 2006 12:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You guys should just breed and breed and breed. Encourage 12 year olds to breed! Free IVF to 60 year old women!
Free IVF to everyone!

Have SO MANY CHILDREN that your economy falls apart and then the religious nutters won't know what to do with themselves...Imagine all the new schools, hospitals, kinders, day-care centres, farms, food factories, etc governments will have to build. Imagine the taxes they'll have to exact!
Imagine the unemployment and the government hand-outs when all those 17 year-olds try to find work to support their 3 kids. Imagine the crime when people are desperate for food and money!
Imagine all those poor little girls giving birth to their own half-aunts and uncles because their fathers SHOULD have been in jail (or shot) but the police were too buys dealing with the poor stealing food from the rich!

Wow - can I come and live in YOUR country????

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» Costello is a dickhead Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: Costello is a dickhead Posted by: taxidave
» RE: Costello is a dickhead Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: Costello is a dickhead Posted by: Aussie Kim
» I Like Aussie Kim! Posted by: morticia
» Speaking as another skip... Posted by: HeroesAll
» RE: Speaking as another skip... Posted by: FauxPorteno
» RE: Speaking as another skip... Posted by: Aussie Kim
» RE: I Like Aussie Kim! Posted by: FauxPorteno
» RE: I Like Aussie Kim! Posted by: morticia
Cannon Fodder
Posted by: CJK on Jul 25, 2006 1:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Neo-Cons just want more troops to fill the trenches.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

victims
Posted by: rsaxto on Jul 25, 2006 4:04 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Pregnant teenagers are the victims and Bill Frist is one of their victimizers.

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Payback for Rejection
Posted by: ChristopherLL on Jul 25, 2006 4:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My impression is that Frist and those who are his contemporaries (Bush, Rove, Cheney and many others) were most likely shunned and/or rejected by girls in high school. Back then they would have been seen sexless, without class or just boring. Their intent now, whether conscious or unconscious, is to take revenge and punish those same girls for becoming sexual with someone else. There is no understanding or compassion in their judgement and punishment. It is personal. Too bad no girl ever kissed or hugged them when they were younger. Now it is too late.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Payback for Rejection Posted by: sirossisofliver
» RE: Payback for Rejection Posted by: morticia
sex propaganda
Posted by: beausoleil on Jul 25, 2006 4:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Is there some reason by so few people recognize the relationship between the constant flow of sexual propaganda aimed at children from our televisions, radios, magazines, billboards and internet and the high rate of teen pregnancy? Is it any wonder that teenagers are obsessed with looking sexy, being sexy and of course, having sex. Unless we curb our media obsession with sex, all of the money spent on 'sex education programs' and all the repressive laws in the world are just pissing in the wind. It's time to stand up for our rights to a media free of constant sexual talk, images, jokes and hype. What is called for now is the realization that as long as our society is bombarded with constant sex talk and semi-pornographic imagery, we will only mire ourselves deeper and deeper into band-aid solutions to a problem that needs major surgery.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Not the solution Posted by: Allison
» RE: Not the solution Posted by: fferris
» RE: sex propaganda Posted by: ann83
» Correction Posted by: ann83
It's not about protection
Posted by: Fang-Face Dreamweaver on Jul 25, 2006 4:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's all about control, of course. This legislation equates with protection the way the "protective" custody of dissedents in dictatorships does. As usual, this piece of right wing-nut legislation will do exactly the opposite of what the right wing-nuts say it is for.

It's a pity those people are too stupid to educate and that they wil never learn that the best form of protection is to be given all of the information you need to make an informed choice. These dolts are even subverting the health care system to their insane ideology.

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cheap ploy
Posted by: kww355 on Jul 25, 2006 5:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only is it about control, it's a cheap election year ploy to bring some of the "strayed flock" back into the GOP fold. Doubtless, Dear Leader doesn't give a rat's boo-hiney about this issue since it doesn't affect either him or his money.

It's a slick,calculated move to bring back some of the fundamentalist fanatics that have broken with him over the war. There's nothing that pleases them more than a government offering them the "daily double" of this bill AND vetoing the stem cell bill. ( "See, our government thinks like we do. They value the unborn even more than life that's already here!" )

Being the good little mindless sheep that they are, this will encourage the fundamentalist fanatics to vote against their own self-interests yet again.

"My job's been shipped overseas and I don't have any health insurance, but by God, those women won't be killing their babies." And more than likely, "those queers won't be destroying my marriage", either.

Just more of the same old bread and circuses for Nero's faithful.

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» RE: cheap ploy Posted by: phal4875
» RE: Fix theirs first Posted by: TheMatrix
» RE: cheap ploy Posted by: Roberta_RansleyMatteau
Protecting Who!?!?
Posted by: Riverside on Jul 25, 2006 5:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Even some of our present day pregnancy counseling agencies are less than consoling to the pregnant teen, but add a bill like the one the Senate is considering today and if passed and implemented we can expect a whole new set of horrors for teen-age girls. This entire new process is actually punitive. It is neither consoling nor helpful.

I fear we could see a sharp rise in teen suicides which some enterprising Republican will find a way to blame on progressives. Whether this bill passes or not we need to dig deep into the Republican skeleton closets and start exposing some of their transgressions. They have got them, for certain.

You know, "let him who cast the first stone..."

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JUST MORE REPUGNANT CRAP!!!
Posted by: lively56 on Jul 25, 2006 6:26 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If people in this country haven't woken up to the fact that those sick bastards in congress don't give a crap about them other than to get their votes, then I feel sorry those poor mindless idiots.

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It should be obvious by now
Posted by: russianblue1 on Jul 25, 2006 6:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that the typical Repug, neocon doesn't give a damn about people, in general. The ONLY thing that gets their shirts in a knot are zygotes, blastocysts, and embryoes (sp?). As long as a human being is OUTSIDE of the womb, they don't give two shits for that person, or the owner of the womb. They are more interested in punishing the child (no food stamps, no day care) for the "sins" of the mother (notice the fathers/boys are NEVER held responsible - I guess teenage girls just get spontaneously pregnant). When a human is INSIDE the womb though, by God, they will move heaven and earth to ensure it is born and THEN NEGLECTED!!! Great compassionate country we live in - keep voting Republican!!

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» agreed. Posted by: omidele
Abortion votes
Posted by: charemor on Jul 25, 2006 7:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The more that I read about abortion issues, the more convinced I become that no male shold be allowed to vote on this issue. As pregnancy is a a female condition, they alone should be allowed to vote on anything pertaining to it. One of the most disturbing pictures I have seen was a few years ago when Bush was signing some sort of partial abortion ban, surrounded by twenty or thirty grinning men (Bubbas) and not one woman in sight.

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» RE: Abortion votes Posted by: MatthewSavage
» RE: Abortion votes Posted by: willymack
Alternet Advertising
Posted by: BlueTigress on Jul 25, 2006 9:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have to wonder if the Alternet advertising people are paying attention. There is an ad for a website talking about "Post-Abortion syndrome" on the advertising sidebar.

Mental health professionals have said there is no such thing and that it's something made up by the anti-choice crowd to scare women.

That said, this bill is another in a long list of stupid Repug ideas.

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» RE: Alternet Advertising Posted by: Sushi
» Do kids again? Posted by: BlueTigress
» RE: Alternet Advertising Posted by: i_right_i
» From the Huffington Post Posted by: russianblue1
» RE: Alternet Advertising Posted by: BlueTigress
» RE: Alternet Advertising Posted by: Wp09
some truth about this bill
Posted by: sertelt on Jul 25, 2006 9:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This post and comments about it are simply out of touch with reality. Let's get some truth into this debate:

The Child Custody Protection Act makes it a crime for anyone other than a teenage girl's parents to take her out of state for an abortion. Boyfriends, their parents or abortion facility staff have made it a practice of taking teens to other states for secret abortions.

Marcia Carroll, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, knows the dangers of taking teens to another state for a secret abortion. She shared her story with a Congressional committee in March 2005.

Carroll said the CCPA bill would have prevented the parents of her daughter's boyfriend from taking her daughter to a New Jersey facility for an abortion without her knowledge.

Once at the abortion business, the boyfriend's family refused to take Carroll's daughter home to Pennsylvania until she had the abortion.

"No one should be able to circumvent state laws by performing an abortion in another state on a minor daughter without parental consent," she told the House Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Polls show Americans strongly support parental involvement laws on abortion.

In a national poll of 1,000 adults conducted in April 2005 by The Polling Company, 82 percent disagreed (including 75% who strongly disagreed and 7% who somewhat disagreed) that "a person should be able to take a minor girl across state lines to obtain an abortion without her parents' knowledge."

Just 15 percent agreed that non-parents should be able to take teens to other states for an abortion without informing her parents.

An April 2005 Fox News Poll also found that Americans agreed by a 78-17 percentage margin that parents should be notified about a minor's abortion. A March Quinnipiac University Poll found a 75-18 percent support for parental notification and a January 2003 CNN/Gallup poll found a 73-24 percent split in favor of parental consent.

For more information, visit www.LifeNews.com.

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» Some truth about this post Posted by: russianblue1
» Please define the issue. Posted by: i_right_i
» RE: Please define the issue. Posted by: russianblue1
» RE: some truth about this bill Posted by: MatthewSavage
» RE: some truth about this bill Posted by: zipper696
» RE: some truth about this bill Posted by: MatthewSavage
Let Them Die
Posted by: glorybe on Jul 25, 2006 10:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If you ever see the preferential treatment given to pregnant teens by state agencies you just get to the point where you hope that the state just lets them rot. A disabled person in Florida will go through purple hell before getting the slightest bit of help. But a pregnant teen will get instant health care, money, housing and all kinds of things. So why not simply get even and insist that no help at all go to pregnant teens. Why should anyone want fair treatment within the system for any group while other groups are wronged constantly? We have reached the point where elderly die for inability to heat their homes so why worry about teens who are going to spawn a crop of really lousy children anyway?

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» RE: Let Them Die Posted by: ethansmom
» RE: Let Them Die Posted by: i_right_i
What's next?
Posted by: Sushi on Jul 25, 2006 11:06 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Will females be required to pee in a cup at the state line to determine if they are pregnant? Then pee again on the way back across to make sure they are still pregnant?

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Dad's of Pregnant Daughters Need To Take Responsibility
Posted by: ethansmom on Jul 25, 2006 11:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the late 80's I became a pregnant teen. I chose to keep my baby. One huge aspect of the trend that has not been mentioned is the problem of absent fathers of the daughters who get pregnant.

My father was not in my life physically or emotionally from the time I was 5 years old. I had sex education for 4 years prior to my pregnancy. From what I recall, sex education never discussed the emotional aspect of "your first love" OR the emotionl roller coaster we all experience while going through puberty, our teen years etc.

My father was not around to give me affection, attention or encouragement of any kind; and most teenage mothers will report that their fathers were absent as well. All of a sudden we find ourselves in love (or lust), and it doesn't take long for the physical and emotional cravings that have not been met for a lifetime to take over. Sex often times becomes addictive, with caution thrown out the window.

No amount of sex education can take place of a loving present father. And as usual, our government is looking at involving itself in the symptom, not the cause.

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» Amazing Posted by: i_right_i
» RE: Amazing Posted by: roonie
» iRi responds to roonie Posted by: i.R.i
» RE: Amazing Posted by: zipper696
» RE: Amazing Posted by: rightbetweentheeyes
Teenage Pregnancy = Abortion?
Posted by: Wp09 on Jul 25, 2006 1:48 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What stuns me about how everybody's views on this subject all seem to follow the common myth that a teenage pregnancy, of any nature or kind, is unwanted. I'm not from America (thank god) and so I cannot comment specifically on the state of things over the pond, but I live in a central city in the UK - where, like described here, teen pregnancy is a serious issue which needs addressing.

But, let's take a step back and just think for a moment: probably nine out of ten teenage parents I see are the kind of people who would stick a knife in you for wishing them a good day. I don't think tackling a specific aspect of teen pregnancy would make much difference: so yes, I agree, to an extent, with the point this article argues. But, sometimes, the teenager wants this pregnancy, but they're still told by the whole of the nation and laws that they should terminate it.

I was accused back in secondary school by a rather ... 'down society' individual that I had got them pregnant and that the round lump expanding daily on their chest was one of my wonderful creations. The way she described it, I almost remember thinking back to a painting I had done in creative arts only a week before. This sort of accusation could kill somebody, and I mean literally: the wrong words or comments said and dozens of people will crowd somebody and beat them senseless. Luckily for me, nobody took it seriously, so you could almost say I was saved (I'm still a virgin, four years afterwards. I'm sure some people will laugh at that, but jesus, there's more to life than sex).

But take one step back from everything and ask yourself, what's worse?

Denying teenage parents the support they desperately need, or encouraging them that ending a life is the right thing to do?
Exactamundo.

Remember, next time you see a teenager who's pregnant, politely inform them about the joys of having bringing a life into the world. Nobody teaches teenagers that in sex-education classes.

Abortion this, abortion that.
Glad I'm English.

Wp09, a proud Englishman.

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» Glad I'm Not English Posted by: i.R.i
» RE: Teenage Pregnancy = Abortion? Posted by: Fang-Face Dreamweaver
What's next?
Posted by: Sushi on Jul 25, 2006 1:49 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Will females be required to pee in a cup at the state line to determine if they are pregnant? Then pee again on the way back across to make sure they are still pregnant?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: What's next? Posted by: TheMatrix
» RE: What's next? Posted by: fiskhus
From the aforementioned Alternet Ad....Wow!
Posted by: i.R.i on Jul 25, 2006 2:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A baby’s cry. A mother kissing a scraped knee. A dad playing football with his son. Triggers abound, reminding you that you could have experienced these moments, if not for that one painful act. Abortion often leaves anxiety, fear, shame and endless questions in its wake. Rationalization and fear initially convinced your mind — but not your heart — that the “easy alternative” was abortion. The immediate flood of relief you expected (and perhaps experienced) has been replaced by the anguish and grief of ending your child’s life. Post-abortion stress lasts for years, often worsening with the passage of time and the anniversaries of what “would have been.” For those experiencing guilt or considering abortion, there is forgiveness, peace and hope for your future.

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» Ok, i.R.i --enough already! Posted by: kww355
» RE: Ok, i.R.i --enough already! Posted by: MatthewSavage
» RE: Ok, i.R.i --enough already! Posted by: zipper696
» RE: From the aforementioned Alternet Ad....Wow! Posted by: Fang-Face Dreamweaver
» Baloney! Posted by: morticia
» Stinking Little Weasel Posted by: rightbetweentheeyes
» RE: Stinking Little Weasel Posted by: morticia
GOP Pulling another "Wedge" off the shelf
Posted by: tanstaafl28 on Jul 25, 2006 3:13 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Predictable behavior from the GOP ramping up to the mid-term elections: attempt to do "damage control" with their voter base by pushing those wedge issues.

All this will do is cause desperate and immature teen girls to try the "do-it-yourself-abortions," and risk bleeding to death, or have the kid secretly and dump it in the trash.

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They claim it protects teens from abusive men...
Posted by: Callibrarian on Jul 25, 2006 11:33 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
who force them to have abortions. But if these men ARE abusive, what the law will do is PERMANENTLY TIE TEENS TO ABUSIVE MEN. Yeah, like that's really a better alternative. But in reality, abusers LIKE having having ties to their victims---it makes them less likely to escape. By blowing the idea of men dragging teens across state lines out of proportion, they're chipping away at abortion rights.
By the way, where are the parents while these teens are being abused by these men? Where are the parents when the teen takes a three day trip out of state with people the parents don't trust? Could it be that they're oblivious parents who pay no attention to their kids? Just asking.

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Do you read your own lead?
Posted by: fiskhus on Jul 26, 2006 8:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The lead to this story says, "If Bill Frist and his anti-choice allies prevail, today's Senate vote on the Child Custody Protection Act could mean tragedy for pregnant teenagers."

Well, of course, it will mean tragedy. It is intended to mean tragedy.

Bill Frist - and the rest of the evangimental cases running this country - does not believe in the loving God of the New Testament; only in the vengeful God of his own nightmares.

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» RE: Do you read your own lead? Posted by: morticia
» Pardon the typo Posted by: morticia
» RE: Do you read your own lead?:morticia Posted by: rightbetweentheeyes
» But seriously, folks.... Posted by: morticia
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