Abstinence success story-14yr old kills newborn twins

[bermudat]

<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1944584p-8304549c.html>

There is not a lot on this story except a 14 yr old gives birth to twins and dumps them. Can't imagine what this 14 yr old went through delivering twins and not having anyone help her. Doesn't excuse the dumping of twins, but I have a feeling there are going to be more stories like this since abstinence only is taught in schools.

[cali]

1. assigning blame to abstinence only education

here without anything to back it up is ludicrous. I wish DUers would refrain from such illogical leaps.

[Pirate Smile]

2. OMG. Was there a safe harbor law in the state where this happened?

What a terrible tragedy.

I'm sure they don't teach about the safe harbor laws in Abstinence classes either. Do they in other Sex Ed classes? I have no idea but at that age it would be hard to get somewhere to do that without help anyway.

[Sanity Claws]

3. North Carolina

Is abstinence only taught there?
I really don't know.
My feeling is that a scared 14 year old could have done this even if taught better at school. The poor girl could have had a terrible home life and had no one to turn to.

[SoCalDem]

5. The questions are.. How come no one in her family "noticed"?

She must have gained a LOT of weight with tiwns.. Did they just "pretend" she was hitting the Twinkies a bit much??

Why did no teacher notice?
Why did she have such a crappy family, that she could tell NO ONE?

[Sanity Claws]

7. If she was heavy to start with...

There was a young woman in my office that was pregnant but people did not know because she was a big girl and wore baggy clothes. A lot of young girls these days are quite big and do wear baggy clothes.

As for why she had such a crappy family, are you blaming her for that? Don't -- those were the cards she was dealt. I had a crappy family. After my mother died, my father ignored me. I never got pregnant as a teen but even if I had, I sincerely doubt he would have noticed. Unfortunately, that is the way some homes are.

As for her having sex at such a young age, I imagine it is a sign that she is looking outside the house for validation and appreciation.

[SoCalDem]

8. Not "blaming" her for the rotten family, but it IS a question to be asked.

If one of my boys had a ZIT, I noticed it..Her parents have to share some of the blame...If she was 18, it would be different, but 14 is another story...and how old was the Daddy??

[Ladyhawk]

19. "Her parents have to share some of the blame."

At age 14, I totally agree. In fact, I wonder if they should bear as much responsibility as she does for doing this.

[bermudat]

6. I work in Franklin County, NC and they teach abstinence only.

A book used in Health Class had 2 sentences about family planning, and I was told the school board made the school tear out the offending page. It is not unusual to see women in their 30's with children in their 20's.

[Selatius]

4. Well, they're going to charge her as an adult

Regardless, there is not enough information in the article to say definitively that it's because of abstinence only education.

[Sanity Claws]

9. That's outrageous

They treat her as a child when it comes to getting information but then treat her as an adult when it comes to the consequences of not having information or having no where to turn.
Damned if you, damned if you don't

[bleedingheart]

10. 14 is far to young to become a mother...

but what kind of family did she have that she couldn't confide in someone???

Her parents may be nice people but if they are intolerant of these types of issues then the girl did this out of fear...however throwing the babes out the window is a bit strange...typically in these cases they put them in trash bags..

[NVMojo]

11. yep, the repuke way is to kill em after they breathe ...sort of like

when they send mature fetuses to fight in their freaking ass wars.

[Nikia]

12. Girls do this because they are ashamed

I read an article that said that this was common in colonial Puritain America too. In many circles, a young teenage girl getting preganant is about the worst thing that she could ever do. Abstinence only programs that preach the virtues of virginity turn their backs on non virgins and say that they are ruined forever.
In Wisconsin there is a law that you can surrender a newborn to a health care facility or a polic station and face no consequences. I think that this is a good thing and should be taught as part sex ed. A girl faced with this deep shame needs other alternatives.

[TexasBushwhacker]

13. Actually North Carolina is better than some

Minor's Access to Contraceptive Services: Minors may consent.

Minor's Access to STD/HIV Testing and Services: Minors may consent.

Statutory Rape Provision: First-degree rape if actor at least aged 12 and four years older than victim has intercourse with child younger than 13.

School Attendance: Must remain in school until graduation or age 16.

Sexuality Education: State mandates HIV/STD and sexuality education. Abstinence must be stressed in HIV/STD and sexuality education. State specifically authorizes localities to teach about contraception, but if taught, it must include failure rates or effectiveness and failure rates among adolescents. Parents may opt to remove students from HIV/STD or sexuality education.

Link: http://www.teenpregnancy.org/america/dynamic/default.asp

Also, starting with Texas (of all places!) in 1999, 46 states enacted "safe haven" laws allowing mothers, and sometimes other family members to "abandon" infants legally at a emergency service providers or other health care providers. North Carolina is one of the states where the person abandoning the infant can remain anonymous.

http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_IA.pdf

At 14, some girls aren't even having regular periods yet. I can't imagine being pregnant with twins and it not showing, but we don't know how far along she was with her pregnancy. A tragedy nevertheless ...

[Pirate Smile]

16. She could have not even known what the hell was going on with her body.

I mean at that age how much did you really understand about what your body was doing when it came to getting your period let alone pregnancy.

It doesn't say how big the babies were, does it? They could have been very small.:(

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Yeah, they'd better do DNA testing on the babies

I'm betting there's a 50/50 chance that the daddy is daddy or step-daddy or mama's boyfriend. If she's 14 now, she may have been 13 when she was impregnated. They need to do a lot more investigating on this case. I doubt she's the only one who committed a crime.

[bobthedrummer]

14. 14 year old mothers killing their newborns, an expectant mom strangled

to death and her fetus taken and shown to a Cafe crowd and a pastor-you really can't put a value on human life, ya know?

[Tsiyu]

15. This is so sad on so many levels

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if pleasures had no consequences, and if ignorance was the path to purity.

[Ian David]

18. Tyrrell County Abstinence Program

Tyrrell girl, 14, accused of killing her newborn twins

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A 14-year-old high school student in Tyrrell County has been charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of her newborn twins, prosecutors said Friday.

The girl, a ninth-grader at Columbia High School, is suspected of giving birth to the children in a bathtub at her home, then dropping them onto the ground out of a window Dec. 6, District Attorney Seth Edwards said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1944584p-8304549c.html

Here is information on the Tyrrell County Public School "Abstinence" program.

The last time I went to their page, it crashed my browser.
Here is the link.
http://www.aginglink.org/a.asp?x=SSW10666

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22Tyrrell+County%22++and+%22Columbia+High+School%22+and+%22abstinence%22

It looks like her school had an "abstinence" program:
http://www.aginglink.org/a.asp?x=SSW10666


I don't have time to check (my wife is mad I'm not in bed yet).

If someone else feels like it...
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Tyrrell+County%22+Washington+and+abstinence++and+%22Public+School%22&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Tyrrell+County%22+Washington+and+%22sex+education%22+and+%22Public+School%22&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Tyrrell+County%22++and+%22Washington+State%22&btnG=Search

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22Tyrrell+County%22++and+%22Columbia+High+School%22+and+%22sex+education%22&btnG=Search