Another abortion question

[timeandeternity]

I posted a question a few days ago on how to answer a particular objection that might be made by a “pro-choice” individual. I’m also not quite sure how to answer another objection that is often posed by those who are pro-choice:
What about situations where a teen got pregnant, her parents were furious, and she was kicked out to fend for herself? There are many terrible stories of parents driving their teenage girl miles away and leaving her on the side of the road, or abusing her, or refusing to support her or provide any kind of material, financial, or emotional help.
Obviously these situations do not justify an abortion, which only compounds the girl’s pain; but if I am asked this question, what could I list as the girl’s other options? Would she be able to find legal help, housing, material and financial aid? What if she’s still in high school, and she can’t get there because her parents won’t take her? What is she has nothing but the clothes on her back–where does she go from there? What if she is afraid of being abused by her own parents? And so on and so forth.

 

[Nate13]

There are shelters for women like this. Simply tell them that is a great point, and you hope to see them pushing to move funding from Planned Parenthood to create more shelters for women like this so that every woman in this kind of situation has somewhere to go. The only situations where this gets hairy are when its life or death of the mother vs. life or death of the child. In the situation you posted this is far from the case. If her parents won’t be supportive then we should make sure there is somewhere for her to go.

 

[ahs]

The Church is there to help as well. Ever drive past a Catholic Church and see the sign “Pregnant? Need Help?” ? This is part of the mission of the Church.

 

[nodito]

There are places that help women in difficult situations like this. Maggie’s Place in Arizona and Ohio and St. Anne’s in California jump immedietly to mind. Catholic Charities also help pregnant women, and they have offices throughout the US. Really, any Catholic Church should be a source of help to a woman or child in this type of situation.

 

[tuscany]

**Tell them about the Catholic Church I attend.

We have a six bedroom maternity home across the street from our church. ( used to be the convent house for our nuns ). It is used for any pregnant girl, of any age, from anywhere. (most of the girls/women are not Catholic, and not from our county ).

They are given everything for free ~clothing, room, board, a baby shower, everything their baby will need, all their Dr. visits, the birth and hospital stay, baby visits to the Dr., etc.
While there, they must finish high school (if needed0, and train for a job to support themselves and their baby when they leave. ( Our volunteers drive them to everything, they don’t ever have to worry about transportation ). They have to take parenting classes, and learn how to take care of their baby.

If the pregnant girl does not want to keep her baby, an adoption is set up and in place for when the baby is born.

We hold fundraisers, and get help from individual people and businesses, but this is something we do because there are so many girls that don’t have a safe place to go and do need help.**

 

[puzzleannie]

I Obviously these situations do not justify an abortion, which only compounds the girl’s pain; but if I am asked this question, what could I list as the girl’s other options? Would she be able to find legal help, housing, material and financial aid? What if she’s still in high school, and she can’t get there because her parents won’t take her? What is she has nothing but the clothes on her back–where does she go from there? What if she is afraid of being abused by her own parents? And so on and so forth.

if you are asked this in what context?
if you in a position where it is likely you will have to deal with these situations it is your reponsibility to research and know the options, what support is offered by the state, school district etc. In every diocese there is pro-life organization and Catholic Charities as well as other groups such as pregnancy testing centers, medical clinics, centers for unwed mothers and a wealth of organization poised to help–only waiting to be asked because they are not allowed to intervene until the girl herself asks for help or there is a referral.

to ask this as just a casual question betrays the ignorance of the fact that there is this legion of help available. the challenge is to get this knowledge into the hands of teenagers, and we need to give the same time, effort and money to disseminating that knowledge as we do to support PP and other agencies whose agenda is to foster and enable the very behaviors that lead the girl into trouble in the first place.

for instance, in Cleveland there is a Crisis Center hotline through the county and there is also a pro-life organization out of Catholic Charities accessed through the diocese, as well as several private agencies that help in such cases.

if she is a minor and comes to you with such a situation, where she has been abused, is homeless etc. you are obligated to call child protective services. Period.

 

[JRKH]

There are shelters for women like this. Simply tell them that is a great point, and you hope to see them pushing to move funding from Planned Parenthood to create more shelters for women like this so that every woman in this kind of situation has somewhere to go. The only situations where this gets hairy are when its life or death of the mother vs. life or death of the child. In the situation you posted this is far from the case. If her parents won’t be supportive then we should make sure there is somewhere for her to go.

This is a great response.

Situations where this sort of thing occurs are generally very complex and involve a lot of general dysfunction in the family. It’s not like Mr and Mrs America suddenly turn on their B+ student daughter just because she made a mistake and got pregnant.
There are usually are deep issues to be dealt with.

As for other options, I agree there are shelters and services available. But as for an immediate answer of what the girl can do…there are two things that come to mind…

1. She can walk to a police station and explain the situation. They can likely put her in touch with some help.
2. She can walk to the nearest Catholic Church, locate the rectory and knock on the door. I cannot image any priest turning out someone in such a situation. He would take her in and immediately seek to contact those who can help.

Peace
James

 

[fred_conty]

She needs consolling to determine what is best for her situation for what is
available in locale.