Unfortunaly, an 11 year old getting an abortion is probably not that unhear of as it at first seems. It is a medical fact that girls are maturing more rapidly now than when I was 11. Luckily for me, I was still a kid at that point. That is just one reason that I believe sex education needs to be taught in the schools as soon as possible because while going through those hormonal changes, I don't think kids are particularly sane. The brain is going through a major developmental change as well. Adoption seems a rosy alternative to abortion, but as Kathryn so expressively wrote, it isn't necessarily so. Kevin G, when you are talking about adoption, is it as an alternative to abortion only?

I am transcribing a mock trial and it brought up some interesting statements, the kids were to mark them on a sliding scale of 1 to 5 as to whether they strongly disagreed to strongly agreed with the statements.

A. Nothing is more personal than the decision of two people to have a child. We don't need big government sticking its nose where it doesn't belong.

B. Adoption agencies carefully screen applicants so that unqualified people aren't given a child. Natural parents should meet the same requirements. Their children are entitled to the same care.

C. Laws regulating childbirth are against human nature. Having children isn't always a rational choice. People will be governed by their emotions, not by some law.

D. Our laws rest on the premise that minors don't know what is good for them. Those same individuals certainly aren't ready to raise a child of their own. No one under 18 should be allowed to be a parent.

E. Any form of licensing requirement would be used to discriminate against poor people. Middle-class and wealthy legislators would try to impose their values on all families.

F. By not requiring parents to pass a licensing test before having children, we ignore the needs of the next generation. All those newborn babies would want capable parents.

G. You can never know whether someone will be a good parent until a child is born. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" would be abridged if people had to prove their fitness before they could have children.

H. If the government did set a minimum age or require licenses, the law would have to be enforced. Children born to unlicensed parents could be automatically put up for adoption. Or parents could be fined.

Hmmm.