Surreal

It's why there were "homes for wayward schools" to keep those dirty sluts away from nice clean girls.

Ingrid

Hilarious

Nephilaine Protagonist

HAY i have a great idea!

Let's deny girls education about how to protect themselves from disease and pregnancy, then for those miscreants that somehow manage to find out about whore's tools like birth control, we'll make that harder and harder to get. THEN when the little sluts end up knocked up, we'll short them a basic education so they can't get a job to support the little whorespawn, and while we are at it lets cut worthwhile programs like Right Start medicaid so the babies get here with less general health and all the advantages that come with that. Probably best to put a ding in stuff like TANF and food stamps and section 8 housing while we are at it, we want them desperate and nothing makes desperate like hunger and the threat of homelessness.

That will ensure the continued population of an exploitable underclass! Its brilliant, and so very simple! For the price of a school policy circulated in a memorandum, we can make SURE that there are plenty of bent backs to form the ladder to Heaven. Easy as shipping badly needed jobs overseas! Easy as taking medicine from a baby! Easy as evil!

What. The. Fuck.

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Eris

Since they aren't allowed to stone them to death anymore, this is the next best thing.

Surreal

Let's just put those dirty sluts to work.

Magdalene asylum

Jura Shepherd

Louisiana is like 2 different states, really. South of Interstate 10/12 is relatively non-crazy. Anything above that is pretty much Jesusland, just like the rest of the Cotton Belt. Delhi (where the school is) is far up into the crazy part. It's a dirt-poor, tiny town that no one actually cares about.

Incidentally: I just snorted out loud at this Wiki bit on Dehli...
Really now.....

Brenda Archer

Truly, I need to renew my ACLU membership.

Maggy Hazelnut

First of all like everyone else in this thread I find the whole issue appalling. I'd scream like a mashed cat if anyone ever did that to a daughter of mine. Also there's an excellent movie about the Magdalene asylums in Ireland called the Magdalene Sisters (2002) that's well worth watching.

On the other hand I do have to wonder about how society has changed so much. When I went to high school back in the Dark Ages (late 1960's) in Seattle, Washington, there were no day cares in school because it was extremely rare that anyone got pregnant. This was back before easy access to birth control pills or anything else other than condoms. It was very rare for a girl to be put on birth control & only given to them by doctors for medical reasons.

In my four years in a medium sized city high school I only remember two girls getting pregnant. One was quietly moved away by her family & the other chose to leave school on her own to have the first of her six children. Both were 17 yr old seniors. It was a close knit school and the girls just weren't getting pregnant. And honestly I don't think very many were having sex at all. It wasn't a big topic of discussion - school, friends & extracurricular activities seemed to keep everyone busy. Hell it was a big issue if you were even caught making out & that wasn't done in the school halls. I don't think my school even had a policy of any kind about pregnant students because it was so rare for it to happen.

I'm not saying schools & society were perfect because we all know that's not true. That era certainly had it's problems but teenage pregnancy & sex were a rarity & far from common like it is today. And it was unthinkable for someone under high school age to be pregnant. It wasn't in the Bible Belt & no one that I knew was a religious nut. We weren't preached at in school about it. Sex ed was very rudimentary & was discussed in one afternoon in grade school without props. Yet everyone graduated from high school there so they weren't just dropping out or disappearing in other ways. Abortion didn't seem to be happening either since it wasn't legal then & no one even talked about it as an option.

It was just expected that you didn't do that & honestly it seemed to work for the huge majority. Just like there were no security guards or weapon detectors in the schools because it was unheard of for students to be violent towards each other or school staff. I never saw a fight at school other than jealous girls yelling at each other now & then.

So what happened? There's better access to birth control & sex ed than ever before. Why now are so many of our kids pregnant & many at such a young age? It's sad for all concerned when children are having children. Why now does almost every school have security guards, metal detectors & violence in the schools? These really weren't common problems at all before like they are now.

Again, I'm not saying that things were perfect in the past. And I'm sure not agreeing with anything that Louisiana is doing. But things really have changed in a relatively short period of time.

Aliselia Aeon

That's debatable-especially the last few years.

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"Push 100cc of Social Skills, stat!" ~Casey Pelous

Sea Warcliffe

There is also a proviso for paternity testing so the young man responsible and his family can assist the new life he helped make. Right?

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ohn lang

Here's a wild guess. Those parents don't believe their daughters should have civil rights, beyond what their future god-fearin son-in-law gives her. Nother wild guess. Those parents also believe there are other groups who shouldn't have civil rights either.

Nimue Jewell

An additional guess. Teen pregnancy only happens to other people's daughters.

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My Snapzilla

ohn lang

Louisiana daddy says "Yeah cause my daughter knows i'll give her the what for if she even thinks about havin' sex. I ever catch her doin that, she'd be so black and blue ... hooey!"

Maggie

I'm still pissed about this. This is just so wrong on so many levels. Yes, I know being pregnant and being a teen in this day is hard, but its not the end of the world. By all means teach them what its like to have a child at 13, 14, or even older. Teens have sex, its going to happen. A pregnant teen needs support and caring, not to be locked in some closet away from society.

I've known a more than a few pregnant teens, and its always "oh you have ruined your life." I never use that line. You have not ruined your life. Your life will be harder and yes much more difficult but its not over. I know of one girl who got pregnant as an early teen. Well that teen went on to finish high school, went to college (twice), and did damn good for herself and her daughter. Who she raised alone.

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ohn lang

Sadly, I have a feeling that you, and I, and lots of people, are going to see more and more to be pissed about in the coming years.

Nephilaine Protagonist

Yeah I dont get this. Its almost always in the context of older, established people lecturing. Most of whom, at least in my experience, have children of their own. It always made me wonder, did their children ruin their life? That sounds like a personal problem to me.
I guess its the poor-communication-skills version of "It will reduce your opportunities" which is true to a degree, though not insurmountable.

I would never encourage a teenage girl to get pregnant, but it doesn't have to be a life-ruining experience. If she genuinely wants the baby and is willing to do what she needs to do to raise it, it can be as rewarding and profound as parenting is at any stage of life. It takes some type of a support network to make that happen, but thats something you need as a parent no matter what age, or the drag of it all will leave one feeling isolated and bitter.

Pity these administrators are reaching for solutions that are punitive and not supportive.

Nephilaine Protagonist

ugh, it feels like the entire concept of compassion is graveyard dead.

Maggie

Oh don't worry about keeping this thread clean. I started it 3 sheets into pissed off and in full rant mode. I'm still pissed off but not as bad.

Isabeau Imako

I've wondered about this, too, as in, look what happened to me after I had you. That's effing sad...




I'm guessing there isn't any sex education given in these schools? They're probably afraid the other students will notice the baby-bumps and start to ask questions the're not wiiling to discuss.

Maggie

Teens have sex. Burying your head in the sand isn't going to change that. Yet, that seems to be the way our society handles it. As a result teens are going to get pregnant. The only way to lower the number is through education and access to proper birth control.

Even then birth control isn't 100%, some will still get pregnant. These girls need access to proper medical and eduction. They need a positive support system, and love. Not to be locked up out of site and denied all of that.

My daughter is on birth control and she started at an early age. Not because I'm encouraging her to have sex or even want her too. But I'm not stupid. I know at some point she will be with the right boy, under the right moon, with all the conditions just right and she will make a choice. We've had this talk and I she knows how I feel about it.

Most importantly keep the lines of communication open. Let them know you love them unconditionally and you will always be there for them no matter what. If she comes to me and tells me she is pregnant, I will be upset but I will be there for her. I will not hide her away trying to pretend this never happened. And god help anyone that tries.

Jura Shepherd

I totally agree with that, but at the same time, I want it to be an informed choice. These little bible-belt towns have a way of entrapping young people and limiting their worldview. I've seen it too many times and frankly, it's heartbreaking to me.

Sex ed and health services are fine, but I think all of that is ignoring the fact that many of these young women can't see beyond the borders of whatever little shitty town they are in. It doesn't make sense to most of us, but I'm telling you, it's very real and very powerful.

If I were truly awesome (I'm not), I'd go to some of these little towns I know of for a career day type thing. I've brought two of my nieces to work with me before and it's really cool to see their eyes get as big as saucers.

Ishina

And yet, it seems the opposite is in fact true. Teenage pregnancies have been at a record low in recent years, dramatically lower than when you were at school. The actual data shows a progressive decline over the decades. This Louisiana school is taking a step backwards. Evidence of localised regression or stagnation, not overall trends.

I think it's just a case of looking at your past with favourably-tinted glasses.

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Rock Chick

My idea of informed choice would of course include the option of abortion, not a pressured type, just as an option, the same as many areas have nowadays anyway.

So in essence, the option to keep the baby, give the baby up for adoption (or have someone else willing to take care of the child without the legality) or have an abortion, sadly in these type of areas not only is sex ed and contraceptive rather limited to teens but I gather so is abortion.

My point being the teenager whose pregnant needs a lot of support regardless of their choice and they need to have all these options available to them!

However, I doubt that's gonna happen anytime soon, when they still teach abstinence only sex ed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all teens should run out and give up their kids or have abortions if they get pregnant, I feel just the options many of us have now should be available to them.

And on that note, I am a strong advocate of teenage women being able to get access to hormonal contraceptives without parental consent or even knowledge. I never had such an issue myself with my parents knowing but there's enough out there who would have parents who would be appalled at them just for taking it.

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"Only question I ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?" from Weird Al Yankovic - White & Nerdy

"You see, truth is like an eternal flame. You can try to conceal it, try to shade it, but it cannot be extinguished." by Pat Shelton from the game Secret Files 2.

Jura Shepherd

Right on. That too, but when I mentioned informed choices above I was thinking more along the lines of opportunities. As in, they have more choices than having kids or working at the local sweet potato packing plant.

Rock Chick

Well I'd like to imagine that would be part & parcel of the choices offered to them if they chose to keep the child, however, considering how they seem to treat pregnant teenagers now I get the feeling their choices would be reduced to getting married and being a housewife, that or being told they're on their own.

I admit, I know very little about this area but I'm really not getting the impression of a single mother who can actually have a decent career vibe going on much!

The reason I brought up abortion was because I get the feeling it's frowned upon in that area, just making the whole situation even more fucked up!

Information goes beyond just to have a baby or not, to keep a baby or not, it should go into all the choices that follow on from each of those options & it goes without saying it should be unbiased, non judgmental and free from any form of pressure.

No "You've ruined your life" because they chose to keep a child, no shaming because they chose to have an abortion, no making the woman feel guilty because she decides to give her child up for adoption.