Mother to blame for damages
Thank you for printing the editorial that supported the Ballard Teen Health Center’s aiding of a 15-year-old girl to get an abortion. [“High-school clinic workers acted properly,” Opinion, March 28.]
This issue’s legal aspects were presented appropriately and brought out the key fact in this controversy —the Teen Health Center’s actions were completely legal. It is appalling that people would blame the Health Center for helping a young girl get reproductive services it provides. What they did was completely within the law.
The mother is to blame because she clearly did not read or fully understand the implications of the contract she signed.
Her case is unfair because the Health Center could not tell its side of the story without breaking the confidentiality agreement key to keeping the good reputation it deserves.
Besides that, this girl should not have to be judged for making a decision that was necessary and completely within the her rights. News stations should leave her alone, as well as the school. Let’s stop talking about this girl and her confidential decision —it is the business of herself and nobody else.
— Deanna Myers, Seattle
When it comes to sex, it takes two (if not more)
I appreciate The Time’s effort to spell out the issues surrounding the Ballard High School student’s actions and how parties involved addressed them. However, The Times made an egregious error in the last sentence of this otherwise fair piece of opinion.
The sentence begins, “Too bad a young girl’s mistake …” Really?
I was under the impression that sex generally requires at least two parties, especially for any female involved to become pregnant. What about the young man’s responsibility? What, exactly, was the young woman’s “mistake”?
Given her age, it is more likely human error, but that does not absolve The Times. “A young girl’s mistake” translates to “she had sex.” We must not condone or recognize that adolescents are sexual being — at least not young women.
— Michael Shook, Vashon