January 28, 2005
She Should've Had an Abortion...
Best of the Web highlights this story in the Haverford (PA) delcotimes.com:
Zero tolerance: Student suspended for taking medicineHAVERFORD -- A Haverford High School honor roll student, known to all as a conscientious, high achiever, was suspended from school last week for taking what might be considered the equivalent of an aspirin. The suspension was based on a zero tolerance drug and alcohol policy, which expressly forbids any form of self-medicating -- including use of over-the-counter products -- without proper authorization. The incident sparked an outraged response from parents, and raised questions about school policy.
The drug in question was a generic version of Aleve. The honor-roll high school student who took it, and her friend who provided it were both suspended.
I post this because it is silly -- but also because of NOW and NARAL's take-no-prisoners demands that these same young women should be allowed an abortion without parental consent. Major surgery, fine. Aleve, no way.
Argh! You beat me to it! I was going to do this and link to this rant!
http://pstupidonymous.blogspot.com/2005/01/abortion-weekend_25.html
I was going to make the same point! Ya bastaahd!
(good point, btw)
Posted by: AlexC at January 28, 2005 9:38 PMI'm not sure how to do this without sounding condescending so I'll just say up front that I'm not trying to be condescending.
Much as I agree with both of you that the PC "zero-tolerance" BS that has infected our public schools since Columbine is ludicrous, I have to disagree with your implied relationship with abortion-on-demand for minors. Your linkage of the two is contextless. The students would not be suspended for popping Aleve in a doctor's office, or a friend's house, or in the park, and NOBODY would demand their right to said abortions performed on school property.
"Zero-tolerance" of drugs and alcohol in schools is not the answer to school violence, but it is also certainly not an argument in favor of parental notification. If you want to debate that subject there are numerous better points to be made. (None that persuade me, I must disclose. It is MY job to know what my -3 week old daughter is up to, not the state's. Here's hoping she's not a Tribble!)
Posted by: johngalt at January 29, 2005 11:35 AMNo, It is not completely contradictory to have zero tolerance drugs on school grounds and lax rules for parental notification of abortion. But it does strain the mind to imagine those emanating from the same society, much less the same political subsection.
And, to run with your analogy, I'm not sure that the young lady would have been given an Aleve(r) in a doctor's office without parental consent.
Your comment was not condescending. I think that a parent has the right to raise a child that supersedes the right of the child to privacy. Do you disagree?
Posted by: jk at January 30, 2005 6:09 PMYou know me, JK. You know I place a high value on parental guidance. But what do we do when the parent fathered the teen daughter's unwanted child? Let the government decide? Maybe, but usually not my first choice.
I am convinced that the "militant anti-abortionists" use this as a wedge issue, subservient to their broader agenda.
Posted by: johngalt at January 31, 2005 3:56 AMI think that the militant pro-abortionists use "her daddy fathered the child" as a wedge issue. I seem to remember Gov. Dean getting in trouble for claiming that that happened to him when it did not. If it were to happen, that is a special case that probably warrants something more life-changing than a surreptitious abortion.
I don't know that you and I are that far on abortion. But I still claim that the problem is Roe v. Wade. By making abortion a sacrosanct Constitutional right, the legislative branch lost the opportunity to make some common-sense regulations.
If it comes to a vote in Colorado (after Chief Justice Thomas overrules Roe v. Wade), I would vote for legal abortion but I would institute parental notification and ban D&X.
Posted by: jk at January 31, 2005 10:17 AM | What do you think? [5]