Baseball bat abortion

[Angela Harlem]

great reply digsy

 

[Tania]

A few comments about this very sad case:

1. Maybe all of us should start to talk more to our children about sex a lot earlier and make sure that our children are able to come and talk to us! What would you like to deal with (a) a little bit of embarrassment or (b) what these teenagers and their parents now have to deal with for the rest of their lives?

2. Imagine what these two must have had to go through to make such a choice? Assuming that they both cared about each other (enough to have sex) and are scared witless with the idea of being pregnant, have no one to talk to (except perhaps other kids their age) and are trying to find a solution. Then, for the guy to hit the girl with a baseball bat and the girl to allow it.... It just doesn't really bear thinking about. No matter who came up with the idea, whether or not they both agreed or didn't its a no win situation for everyone concerned.

3. The pro-abortion/anti-abortion/choice etc argument. Okay, this is a hard one and it would be easy to fill a whole page plus some to give my opinion but I would suggest that every person should have the right to choose their own life. That choice comes with a responsibility, and I am sure that women who have thought about abortion and for whatever reason have decided not to go ahead with it and have had a baby have the responsibility of raising that child to the best of their ability. This would not be an easy decision to have to make given that in today's society parenthood is not always given the status it should (then there is the financial, emotional, physical implications of having a child). Going ahead with the abortion is probably not an easy decision either. The same factors come into play for abortion as against and in both cases there are the feelings of regret, of what might have been etc.

4. Should one, the other, both be prosecuted? I honestly don't know the answer to this one. I do think it is a big, big reminder that sex education is extremely important. Education allows us to make decisions and realise the impact of those decisions. It would be interesting to know how much these children knew before they got themselves into this situation! I also wonder whether the cost of the trial/lawyers etc would not be better spent on a counselling and help for these two people, their families and even the kids in their school to reduce the chances of something like this ever happening again.

 

[pax]

Since some folks have started to get heated again, and since we've had some great input from Ange and Digsy in the last few posts, I think we're ready to put this thread to bed now.

We all know this surely won't be the last time we hear about the subject, so let's all catch our respective breaths for a while, okay?