We are a group of friends and acquaintances -- a merry band of pranksters indeed -- who have been arguing about politics on-and-off, then really on, then a little off... since 1998. On email. But that meant literally thousands of emails a year. That was too many. So here's the blog dedicated to carrying on that spirit of political and pop culture argument and dialogue. You might think of us as "schmoliticians", because while we take politics seriously, we try not to take ourselves quite so.
An alert reader and friend of Politics Schmolitics recently opined:
Because, Lord knows, the Deep South needs more 13-year-old mothers... especially the kind living in shelters BEFORE the pregnancy.The story is here.
posted by Sean @ 5/04/2005 10:08:00 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I'm not sure what the Deep South needs, but this is Schiavo-like situation. There is no good news here, and I'm not sure anyone is overjoyed -- with the possible exception of Planned Parenthood -- that a 13-year-old is aborting her baby.
At least Jeb didn't try to do some end-run around the Courts again.
Our anonymous friend replied: "What I'd like to know is, if the Jeb Administration is so worried about young life, how about protecting a girl who is a ward of the state in such a fashion as to MINIMIZE the chances of her getting pregnant?"
I say: that's not exactly a fair comment.
There will always be runaways, unplanned pregnancies, and overworked case workers (especially in Florida's case, where their human services agencies are chronically underfunded).
Jeb's administration can and should address the macro-level deficencies in the system, specifically funding and staffing. But he and they aren't responsible for every unplanned pregnancy or runaway child.
I am pleased that Governor Bush didn't take this any further. He didn't have a legitimate legal position, since there is no parental consent law on the books in Florida. All that would have happened is more publicity for his "sanctity of life" agenda, (which somehow includes the recent passing of a law allowing ordinary citizens to discharge firearms at would-be attackers, even if they had an opportunity to escape, as discussed in an earlier blog. But, I digress), and more calls for the removal of activist judges, who are just following the laws passed by the legislature.
However, I do take a little offense to the comment about what the Deep South needs. The most recent data on the highest teen pregnancy rates shows that out of the ten states with the highest teen pregnancy rates, only three could be categorized as "Deep South". And, the 13 year old in question certainly appears to have a clue. In her own words, "I don't think I should have the baby because I'm 13, I'm in a shelter and I can't get a job." Makes sense to me.
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