Friday, November 04, 2005
Er... wanna screw?
I bet Rico Chenyek feels awkward here.
From the story:
"I wish I could vote so bad," said Kandy Stewart, a 16-year-old junior at Berkeley High. For the past two months, she has been a shoulder to cry on for her pregnant teenage cousin who lives out of state. Her cousin wants to have an abortion, but the mother is forcing her to keep the baby, Stewart said.
"My cousin is a model and a basketball player," she said. "Now she feels like her career plans are over. Forcing teens to tell their parents is dangerous because a lot of parents have different ideas than their children do about the right way to go."
Now, when Kandy says "dangerous," apparently what she means is "dangerous to our own desires to do whatever we want," rather than "dangerous to the girl." In fact, by law, the disagreement between parents and children about the "right way to go" is automatically won by the parents in most cases.
Under the law, doctors would alert parents in writing. Exceptions would be made if an abortion was needed to prevent the mother's death or if a teenager had a note from her parents waiving notification. In all other cases, a teenager would have to go to court to avoid alerting her parents.
A waiver, eh? "Hey, mom, dad, can I have a waiver so that I don't have to notify you if I... uh... hypothetically got pregnant?"
"Not everyone has the best relationship with their parents," said Olivia Obidah, 16, a Berkeley High junior. "What if the parents are abusive or kick the girl out of the house? If girls don't want to tell their parents, then there's probably a very good reason why."
Right. It's never something petty and meaningless when it comes to teenagers arguing with their parents. Never.
For Christina Reyes of Hayward, who recently turned 18 and now attends UC Irvine as a psychology student, this is the first time she's old enough to vote. She's going to vote yes, and religion has nothing to do with it.
"My mom works in a women's clinic, and we have a great relationship," Reyes said. "Obviously I'd never want to be in that position, but if I were, I'd want her to know and help me decide. It's too difficult to handle such a big thing alone. It should be a group decision, because a lot more people than just the mother are affected when a teen has a baby."
Uh... yeah, lady, if you want her to know, you can always tell her, even without Prop 73. That doesn't really explain why she supports it.
Novato High student Kristi Karinen, 17, said she envies her friends who can tell their parents anything, but she doesn't believe a law will change things for families like hers.
"If I got pregnant, I, as a teenage girl still living under the jurisdiction of my Catholic father and grandmother, would rather risk my health and have an illegal abortion performed than face the shame of my family for years beyond my childhood."
She'd better hope they don't read the Chron, then.
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