by Brummie 22 Replies latest jw friends
You all seem to think the parent should be told, But what if the parents are JWs ? <br><br>
1. No chance of even considering an abortion.<br><br>
2. The young Girl would be forced to discuss her Sex life with at least 3 Elders.<br><br>
3. Loss of friends, either due to being labled a bad association or being disfellowship.<br><br>
4. Lots of stress.<br><br>
While I agree that in most cases the parents should be informed surly we can all understand why it is some times best not to.
Surely each case should be judged on its own merits. This particular one seems to have been mishandled (although what loving mother would sell their story to the press!) but only one side is reported as the health care workers cannot make any comment. Who knows what the girl told them about her family.
Surely each case should be judged on its own merits. This particular one seems to have been mishandled (although what loving mother would sell their story to the press!) but only one side is reported as the health care workers cannot make any comment. Who knows what the girl told them about her family.
I agree that in most cases, it's better that the parents know, but not all cases.
I agree. Sometimes it is in the best interest of the child not to inform the parents. I'm glad that there are people there for kids in this situation - what would be better, someone helping the girl and offering them advice and information and making sure they are safe - or some 14 year old girl giving birth alone in some grotty shed and abandoning the baby because she is terrified of her parents reaction to the pregnancy.
Just so this can be put into perspective; this is the law in the UK. A health professional can give medical advice to and proscribe non-invasive tharpy to a legal minor and is not obliged to obtain parental consent..
This girl was not the only teenage girl who got pregnant.
This girl was not the only teenage girl who decided to have an abortion without telling her parents.
This girl was the only girl whose mother found out by accident (in this case talking to someone in the street who had presumably seen her daughter go to the clinic for the medication).
This girl was not the only girl whose mother had a different opinion to her (in this case after she found out she talked to her daughter who THEN changed her mind, but as she'd taken the first dose it was too late).
This WAS the only girl whose mother then took actions which ensured that her daughter's picture was on the front page of two newspapers yesterday.
First she doesn't know her daughter is sexually active at 14, second, she turns her into a national news item.
Way to go mum; I don't blame the girl for not telling her if that's the level of parental responsibility she has. I wonder if mum got any money for the story...?
My point is this works 99.9% of the time, and when it doesn't work, is it the system that's at fault? Or the parents? What do you think being so afraid you're not going to tell your parents means about the relationship?
This WAS the only girl whose mother then took actions which ensured that her daughter's picture was on the front page of two newspapers yesterday.
Yes it is pretty sickening, that girl still has to go to school and is going to have put up with people judging her now because of the mother making it so public.
I think the girls should be encouraged as much as possible to tell their parents, but there is not much a health care worker can do if the refuse completely.
If the health workers went behind the girls back and told the parents, all that would happen is that these kids would not confide in anyone and would have no one to turn to for advice
I agree on every aspects with SPHERE ... (and the like comments). Kids have they're own rights to be protected in any way with or without their parents.
French,
Hi Sexy!
The problem with Sphere's answer, and yours, is that it's no answer at all. Parental notification is VERY important. In some places a girl can't get a belly ring or pierced nipple without parental consent, yet in Florida, a 14 year old can have a major surgery without her parents ever knowing. I'm waiting for the first time this happens and there's a complication...someone will have their butt's sued off.
There are indeed some cases where the girl might be in actual physical danger if her parents are notified...that's for a judge to decide, not a "medical consultant" If the environment she lives in is such that she's in danger by telling her parents, she should be removed from the home anyhow.
Problem is if you involve the judicary as a matter of course medical confidentiality goes out the window.
I don't know about other parts of the world, but there's no compulsory notification in the UK for very good reasons, and it's only cases of questionable parenting like this that ever bring it to peoples attention.
Hi Sexy too !
Well in fact if you really read the others and me we do not defer that much on the matter (it all depends on the parents way of being) and of course court have it word to say when it's time to make sur the rights of the kids are respected.
In some places a girl can't get a belly ring or pierced nipple without parental consent, yet in Florida, a 14 year old can have a major surgery without her parents ever knowing.There are indeed some cases where the girl might be in actual physical danger if her parents are notified...that's for a judge to decide, not a "medical consultant" If the environment she lives in is such that she's in danger by telling her parents, she should be removed from the home anyhow.
I find this disturbing as well. How can a girl be considered not old enough to decide to get a tattoo, but old enough to decide whether to keep a baby or not? An abortion is a major emotional and psychological event, which can effect a woman's whole life as much as having a baby can. I don't think children under 16 have the experience to make a decision like this and should also not have to go through it alone. It's hard enough for adults. A girl who is pregnant and fears violence or total abandonment from her parents should be helped. It seems to me that giving her a secret abortion gets everyone off the hook, except her, who now has to live with a trauma she can't tell anyone about. Okay, I do agree that it's still better than having the baby alone in a bathroom and sticking it in a dumpster, but it would be far better get both the girl's and the boy's parents involved and then sort it out in the open. And I agree, since when is a medical consultant in a position to make a decision like this? Trained social workers have a hard enough time helping complicated, dysfunctional families.
