Young people are seen as "footloose" and "fancy free," with a Republic editorial infamously calling us "badly behaved brats." When it comes to choosing young parenthood, the challenges are insurmountable — or so we're led to believe.
There are many options for young people's family planning, including Safe Baby Haven laws and whether or not they are a benefit or detriment to society.
Recently, there was a lot of chatter regarding the young mother who tossed her baby out of a window after secretly giving birth. Many activist groups provide opinions regarding the young girl’s options and the faults within her actions.
Which is fine.
However, it's important to consider how accessible we are making these options and how public we are making their existence before we brush the issue off as a horrible person executing an unforgivable act.
As a society, we may be shielding such provisions out of shame. While adoption has been a relatively socially-acceptable means of relinquishing direct parental responsibility, in the past, a good chunk of children placed within that system never made their way out of it.
Another option would be abortion. This alternative, however, is the far less acceptable option in our society out of the two. There is a stigma attached to these clinics that shame pregnant youth, and their partners, and makes it much more difficult to seek assistance.
This argument does not revolve solely around the youth population. What do potential mothers do when they find out they're pregnant at a point in their lives where they cannot adequately foster a child? When one is not financially, mentally or emotionally stable enough to raise that child? And what if they do not have a strong enough familial foundation to depend on?
I'm not expecting people to still be abandoning their kids in this day and age. Let's learn from other's mistakes #khumbulekhaya
— Lindiwe Skosana (@lyndz_20) August 19, 2015
Well, luckily for these women, there is the Safe Baby Haven Laws. For those who are unaware, the Safe Baby Haven Law states that an unwanted child can be dropped off within 72 hours of birth at designated locations without the risk of being prosecuted for child abandonment. There is no name required at time of drop-off nor any face-to-face confrontation.
These locations typically include hospitals, fire departments and some churches.
@passothCBS46 MA stopped 90% of newborn abandonments w/youth led Baby Safe Haven awareness campaign. 100+ times this http://t.co/VYplhhmTl6
— babysafehaven (@babysafehaven) August 25, 2015
But what about the stigma attached to merely dropping off your child? To completely cutting ties?
Because of the young mother mentioned previously, this question has been posed nationally. Why didn’t she utilize the resources at her disposal?
To be clear, I do not condone that young mother's actions and wholeheartedly believe that there was a plethora of other viable options and steps that could have been taken. However, I do believe it is necessary to both eliminate the social stigma associated to some of these steps and increase the public’s general awareness so situations like these do not become a frequent occurrence.
If we continue to condemn young women for being pregnant, we will encourage and foster a worthless shame. If we maintain the societal ideal that the resources available for these mothers are negative entities, then there is no way for these women to receive the assistance they desperately require.
It is a shame that we only open our hearts to situations that have gone a rye instead of our minds to situations that require some help.
Related Links:
Teen pregnancies and their life-altering power
Coming to a school near you: The pros and cons of pregnancy
Reach the columnist at rblumen2@asu.edu or follow @500wordsofrayne on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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