Teenagers, like all of us, sometimes make bad decisions. Part of growing up, however, is being held accountable for those decisions and learning how to take responsibility for them.
That?s why its troubling that some health officials oppose a proposed Howard County Public School policy that would allow parents and principals to know whether their daughter or student was pregnant.
“Although surveys show that most adolescents will seek routine medical care with their parents? knowledge, making parental involvement or notification mandatory drastically affects adolescent decision-making and reduces the likelihood that teens will seek timely treatment,” said Dr. Maura Rossman, medical director for the Howard County Health Department.
This statement troubles for multiple reasons. One, it sends the message that it?s OK to lie to your parents in uncomfortable situations. What about drugs? Cheating?
Second, it says that if you do something wrong you don?t need to take responsibility for it — other than to seek “treatment.” A baby is not a cyst. Most reasonable people would agree the decision to keep a child or to seek an abortion is a moral one more than a medical one except in rare instances. By default, such a policy also absolves the child?s father from any responsibility. If the child he helped to create can just be fixed by a “treatment,” it sends the message that promiscuity is not wrong and his responsibility ends with the pleasure of the act ? doesn?t it? Is that the outcome feminists worked so hard to achieve?
Third, not requiring parental notification is schizophrenic public policy. How can we try teenagers as adults in the criminal justice system yet absolve them of all personal responsibility in the school system?
Fourth, and most importantly, to advise a troubled child to avoid seeking help from those who most likely love them the most and have their best interest at heart is simply wrong-headed if not criminal.
In regard to principals being told of a pregnancy, it is only in the young woman?s best interest. Having a child out of wedlock is almost a sure path to dropping out of school and becoming another poverty statistic along with her unborn child. The sooner a principal knows the situation, the sooner he or she can work with the young woman?s parent(s) to craft aneducational program that helps her to stay in school.
Howard parents must call Dr. Maura Rossman at 410-313-6300 and the Howard County Public School System at 410-313-6600 and tell them they support the proposal. Parents and principals must not be cut out of one of a young woman?s most important decisions because they are inconvenient or make her uncomfortable.
