garysher

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waitingtables

OOH, what a witty comeback Gary! And my definitions are not irrelevant, they are irrelevant to you. I'm glad you had great parents, but that doesn't mean anyone else did. Try and think outside of your own limited experiences, and walk a mile in someone else's shoes. You might change your opinion about a lot of things. Are you seriously saying that parenthood does not imply adulthood? Because even if you still live with your parents after you have a baby, if you are the caretaker of said baby, you are an adult. An adult who still can't vote, or buy alcohol, or maybe even drive, but who can have a baby with all the responsibility that parenthood entails.

highway80west

How would you know that, Gary? Would you have tried to "cure him"?

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

hot dragon

waitingtables;

OOH, what a witty comeback Gary! And my definitions are not irrelevant, they are irrelevant to you.

unfortunately for us, everything is irrelevant to garysher, except garysher.

I'm glad you had great parents, but that doesn't mean anyone else did. Try and think outside of your own limited experiences, and walk a mile in someone else's shoes. You might change your opinion about a lot of things. Are you seriously saying that parenthood does not imply adulthood? Because even if you still live with your parents after you have a baby, if you are the caretaker of said baby, you are an adult. An adult who still can't vote, or buy alcohol, or maybe even drive, but who can have a baby with all the responsibility that parenthood entails.

well put. people often assume their experiences are the best or the only ones that matter.

the issue of pregnancy is above all else an issue affecting the person who is pregnant. nobody else in the world is going to be affected nearly as much, and nobody else has the right to impose judgement or decision upon her.

bfrazz1

The rare child that decides to have a child out of wedlock is taking on adult responsibilities, and is waitingtables has pointed out, an adult. Many fifteen and sixteen year olds purposely have children in order to get out of a bad family situation and take on all the burdens of adulthood, with few of the benefits. Each situation is unique unto itself and no one has the right to stand in judgement of these young women. The same holds true of their decision to terminate the pregnancy, without parental consent, since most parents would try to force their view of right and wrong on the child who is pregnant and subject the young lady to constant haranguing, or even violence. Hot dragon puts it well in his posting, no one has the right to judge or force their way upon the pregnant mother, since she will bear the burden of either decision.

pensacola_niceman

How about the medium well child?

garysher

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hot dragon

garysher wrote:

Utter nonsense.

In the first place a teenager who has a child will have to rely on her parents for financial support and most other forms of support she will need. To pretend that her parents are somehow out of the picture and instantly uninvolved is ludicrous.

of course, i never said that.

but to say that the grandparents are somehow going to be MORE affected than the mother is rubbish.

Secondly, parents DO have the right to impose judgment on their children, good or bad, and they do so every day of the child's life, often continuing long after the child becomes a legal adult.

parents also have the responsibility to raise children who can make their own decisions and accept responsibility for them.

also, i believe i illustrated earlier that there are many instances where parents do not have the right to impose their judgement on their children, even if under the age of consent.

Parents make decisions - about health, nutrition, moral values, behaviour, education and hundreds of other things - on behalf of their children. All of these decisions impose judgments on the child in one way or another.

and parents can make bad decisions. or decisions that the child has good grounds to disagree with. at the very least, children deserve to be heard.

your concerns are perhaps more relevant when dealing with very young children, but when dealing with adolescents, it is important to remember that they have their own ideas that cannot be automatically disregarded.

It's clear your parenting experience is confined to the theoretical.

my kids would say otherwise.

actually, they might not!

Sharon den Adel

Well, I agree with you, although I do support, and agree with, abortion.
I just wanted to comment on your second point, about minors being given an abortion without parental consent.
The way I see it, if someone is mature enough to make a decision to engage in sexual intercourse, that same person is mature enough to decide to abort an unwanted pregnancy.
The only reason I support minors having abortions without parental consent is because I worry what would be the outcome if a parent was aware their daughter was intending to abort her pregnancy? I don't imagine a Christian mother/father would just sit back and allow their daughter to terminate her pregnancy, do you? I'd be concerned for the minor - would they be forced to gestate against their will by their own parents? This is something I would never like to see, so I am all for minors obtaining abortions without consent.
I am also in favour of minors having access to contraceptive devices without parental consent.

Grace

Just cause someone has sex, doesnt mean they are mature enough to have sex. Lots of concern for the child, but no one gives a crap about the baby inside them. Its a sad world we live in.