Teen's Choice

I was wanting to talk about the issue of teenagers and abortions in this weeks blog.  I found this article about how Ohio passed laws to keep minors from getting abortions with out parental consent.  I have mixed feelings about this issue.  I think that it is a good idea that teenagers, especially minors, should have parental consent to get an abortion.  I think that this will allow the teen to have the support from her family that she will need after going through such a traumatic event. On the other hand I feel as if the reasoning Ohio is trying to get this law passed is completely wrong.  In the article it talks about how the only reason they want to pass this law is because they are more of a Pro-life state.  I think that if they want to have this law they need to have it for the right reasons.  This law does not allow girls who might get pregnant to be able to get an abortion even if they know they can not tell their parents because of maybe abusive parents or not understanding.
My questions for you are:  What is your take on this law?  Do you think it is fair to take away the present law just to "save" lives?

-Sam F.

Midwives vs. Hospitals

After watch the movie "The Business of Being Born" it really got me thinking about my future for when I have kids. Do I want give birth at home or at a hospital? From what I got from the movie is if you go to the hospital most likely it will end up as a C-section. Which to this day has become very common now. Heck you can pick a date now as to when you want to have a baby and it would be a C-section. Hospital just want to get you in and out and the quickest way is a C-Section. But once you have your first C-section if you have any more it could cause problems. Also at hospital they give you alot of drugs which could effect the baby with a Midwife they use very minimal drugs and tyr to keep you as comfortable as possible. Well I read an article in the Time magazine and it was about midwives vs. doctors. About 99% of all births int the US take place in hospitals and the US is ranked 29th in the world for infant mortality. The home births infant mortatliy rate in the US is roughly 1.7 per 1,000 which is the about the same if it was born in a hospital. Midwives thinks that having a midwife is not less safe than a hospital births. In some areas there was not an increase mortatlity risk with low risk home births. Even though with having a midwife there can always be a high risk of problems, and that is when they will decided to go to the hospital. Then getting to the hospital thats when they doctors judge you and wonder why you wanted so long to come in. Now the doctor my take care of someone else's case, but someone else' problem. Thats enough to sour them on the entire profession.
My Question for you:
What is your opinion on midwives vs. hospital?
Do you think its more risky to have a midwife and a birth at home instead of going to the hospital?
Do you think that C-sections are becoming more common these days?
After watching the movies, did it make you question hospitals and they way they run thing?

-Jamie B.

When Drug Use and Motherhood Intersect

Teen Mom has shown us various difficult situations that these young mothers must deal with; there's the usual financial, relationship, and educational struggles, but some of these young women have to deal with more on top of these things.
I want to focus on the recent arrest of Janelle, a mother featured in the second season. (You can see the article here). She has had troubles with her son, and gave up custody of him to her mother. In January, she and her boyfriend were arrested on charges of marijuana possession. This brings up a couple of questions for me that I'd like to ask: 
Does doing drugs make one a 'bad' mother?
If so, what constitutes a drug that is too much? Is weed okay, but coke is not, etc.?
Why does doing drugs makes one a bad or good parent?
What about those parents who are addicted to drugs, e.g, what if Janelle had been discovered to be addicted to heroin?
Are there extenuating circumstances to drug use, e.g, do we more easily excuse and forgive drug use when it's done by richer, more privileged people than those who are poorer, come from broken households, etc.?

Love Is...

This week I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the programs in our society that aim to prevent teen dating violence, as our guest speaker, Jenny Dills,  discussed today. She showed us videos from the Love is Respect campaign. It seems to be one of the very few programs that exist that aim to prevent, not just assist victims of, teen dating violence. At this point in society, one would think we are at a point where the issue has been acknowledged for long enough that prevention should be a huge priority for resource centers.
The Love is Respect campaign does have a lot of positive messages to encourage teens to not allow dating violence to become an acceptable part of their relationships. For example, the "My Time to Shine" project has teamed up with Martina McBride to "get the word out about teen dating abuse and educate both teens and parents on ways to safe." The website even has a quiz you can take to see if your relationship would be deemed healthy. They are doing their best to send messages to teens that are positive, and encourage them to believe they deserve a healthy relationship filled with love.
Similarly, the Green Dot campaign targets college campuses to stop sexually violent situations at they are happening or as they are about to happen. As we discussed in class, this can take a lot of focus off the victim and place it all on the perpetrator and the people stepping in. Is this fair/unfair? Is it the best way to succeed in prevention of teen dating violence? If not, what do you think would be the best?

-Ami J.