Re: Forced Sterilization in Prison
I guess I should add that education is important, I strongly believe in education. But. In middle school, all they talked about was abstinence. We didn't learn about birth control until high school. This is still much too common. Students weren't told their rights to birth control, etc in middle school (and we had three drop outs the summer between high school and middle school due to pregnancy if I recall correctly). For crying out loud, it wasn't unheard of for sixth graders to be caught having sex in the school bathrooms. I personally saw two third graders making out. I'm not talking kiddo's trying out that first kiss, I'm talking full on, one leaned up against a tree, tongues tangled, making out.
I had a graduating class of 120 students. When we graduated, there was somewhere around 20 babies. Two years out of high school? Somewhere around 40. There was one girl who had 3 kids before graduating high school. Two others who had had 2. And we had a sex-ed course in place that began in middle school. There was a clinic for free birth control a block away from the school. Think about this... there were 120 students, if apprx half were female that's 60 couples who had 20 children by the time they graduated. 30% of my graduating class had babies. and that's just at graduation. Within two years that number was up to 60%. Though maybe 20/50 would be more accurate when you consider the multiple births. And this just includes babies born, no note to abortions, miscarriages, etc. (I had a teacher confide in me some time after graduation, that she had found miscarried babies in the toilet with some regularity) And I really don't think these sort of stats are unheard of.
I don't consider teenagers qualified parents, even if in the end they make good ones. I don't think there's any good excuse for teenagers getting pregnant in today's society. I'm not saying sterilize them, but damn, if their parents aren't going to take responsibility, and they sure as hell aren't, then somebody needs to step in.
I've seen way too much of this. I've also seen plenty of loving parents who had their kids at a more appropriate point in their life, when they were financially stable, a little older and a little wiser. They were, quite often, happier, with more well adjusted kids.
Originally posted by Luce
View Post
I had a graduating class of 120 students. When we graduated, there was somewhere around 20 babies. Two years out of high school? Somewhere around 40. There was one girl who had 3 kids before graduating high school. Two others who had had 2. And we had a sex-ed course in place that began in middle school. There was a clinic for free birth control a block away from the school. Think about this... there were 120 students, if apprx half were female that's 60 couples who had 20 children by the time they graduated. 30% of my graduating class had babies. and that's just at graduation. Within two years that number was up to 60%. Though maybe 20/50 would be more accurate when you consider the multiple births. And this just includes babies born, no note to abortions, miscarriages, etc. (I had a teacher confide in me some time after graduation, that she had found miscarried babies in the toilet with some regularity) And I really don't think these sort of stats are unheard of.
I don't consider teenagers qualified parents, even if in the end they make good ones. I don't think there's any good excuse for teenagers getting pregnant in today's society. I'm not saying sterilize them, but damn, if their parents aren't going to take responsibility, and they sure as hell aren't, then somebody needs to step in.
I've seen way too much of this. I've also seen plenty of loving parents who had their kids at a more appropriate point in their life, when they were financially stable, a little older and a little wiser. They were, quite often, happier, with more well adjusted kids.
Comment