Lawsuit: Girl Forced To Take Pregnancy Test

[The Straight Story]

Lawsuit: Girl Forced To Take Pregnancy Test
Counselor, Nevada City School District Named In Lawsuit


NEVADA CITY, Calif. -- A 12-year-old girl was forced to take a pregnancy test at school in Nevada City, a lawsuit filed in Nevada County Superior Court alleges.

The Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing the girl, said in a news release that Steve Davis, a counselor at Seven Hills Middle School, pulled the girl out of class.

Davis heard rumors that she was pregnant and wanted to know if it was true, according to the release.

Though she denied it and told Davis a classmate had spread rumors about her in the past, the counselor got a pregnancy test from the school nurse and told the 12-year-old to give a urine sample, the Pacific Justice Institute said.

The pregnancy test was negative.

http://www.clickorlando.com/health/18681284/detail.html

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. That's all kinds of screwed up nt

[MineralMan]

2. Sounds like a counselor who overstepped his

authority to me. If he had concerns, the parents should have been notified. School counselors are not doctors, parents, or authority figures of any sort.

[liberalhistorian]

6. Yeah, but try telling a lot of them that. My teacher parents

had to deal with assholes like this all through their careers.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I would most definitely consider this to be an invasion of privacy.

At the very least, I would think that any action of this sort should require notification and consent of a parent or guardian. The counselor was way out of bounds.

[ogneopasno]

4. Wow. I can't even express how furious I would be if this happened to my kid.

That counselor is out of control.

[liberalhistorian]

5. "No merit in the claim?" says the superintendent? What bullshit!

They do not have the legal authority or right to do that, especially just on the word of another classmate who'd previously spread rumors about her.

And they could have avoided a court battle if they'd simply given her an apology, which is all the family had asked for in the first place. What authoritarian idjits. My parents were teachers and had to deal with these kind of authoritarian idiots, who are completely clueless in the ways of preteens and teens (constantly apreading rumors, causing trouble for classmates they don't like, etc.), all the time throughout their forty-year careers and it drove them crazy. And what the fuck business is it of the school, anyway?

[Warpy]

7. At least they didn't just call her parents

I would vastly have preferred peeing on a stick at school to having them call my parents over such a rumor. If I had a 12 year old daughter, I'd want to know the school was looking out for her.

They were looking out for her health. Pregnancy in a 12 year old child can have severe health consequences.

I'm sorry the kid was embarrassed. The school should have explained to her and to her parents they were looking out for her, not punishing her, and apologized for any misunderstanding.

As for the rumors, that bully needs to be identified and that bully needs to be dealt with. Being bullied like that can also have serious health consequences and the school can pretty much bet the child in question was not her only target.

[madaboutharry]

8. Wow, I can't recall disagreeing more with

another member here at DU.

This conduct was completely out of line.

If anything like this happened to my daughter, I would also file a lawsuit.

[Warpy]

9. I just guess I see it from the kid's point of view

and not the parent's.

I also see it from a nurse's point of view.

A strip search would provoke a lawsuit from me. This wouldn't.

The school does need to deal with that bully, though. That's the real threat here.

[tkmorris]

10. That is just absurd

You see it "from the kid's point of view"? Seriously? The girls point of view is that she KNEW she wasn't pregnant. She didn't ask to take the bloody test, they FORCED her to. Against her will. You do get that don't you? What on earth gives a school official the right to force a pregnancy test on anyone, let alone a girl who isn't even in her teens yet?

You are just taking the piss here. You can't possibly believe what you write.

[Lilith Velkor]

11. The school *rewarded* the bully by forcing the girl to take the test.

They need to have the shit sued out of them, enough so she gets a college education.

[kath]

23. Yes -- ditto here - I'm shaking my head in shock at this poster.

We are fighting random student drug testing here, which IMHO is an abomination. This pregnancy test story is even worse.

[azmouse]

14. It would have been better if they had.

With the parents involvement this farce could have been stopped.

I can't imagine the humiliation this young girl went through. Now her entire school knows about it instead of just herself and her family.

[mopinko]

20. agree with you.

as someone who has been in the position of having to hand over some parental power to people whose job it was to take care of my kid, no parent likes it. but sometimes to take care of an adolescent, you have to treat them like a kid and like an adult at the same time. part of that is accepting a kids trust by not running to mom and repeating every thing you have heard.
12 is young, but if she was sexually active, that makes it something else. that makes it a kid who needs help now.

[skygazer]

21. It's not a matter of what you'd prefer

or what they were looking out for. It's a matter of what is legal and what is within their rights as a school. The counselor overstepped his bounds. The school was wrong. The end does not justify the means. And just because you agree with something doesn't make it right.

[Canuckistanian]

22. Yikes. You don't get the point, do you?

A school doesn't have the right to intrude on a personal matter like this.

They can advise, but LEGALLY ACTING is outrageous.

[Ikonoklast]

24. You can't be serious.

If it was my daughter, I would have called the cops to meet me at the school to arrest those that performed an assault on my child.

This was beyond the pale.

They had NO RIGHT whatsoever to do what they did.

NONE.

[truebrit71]

12. My prediction? One less school counselor and a poorer school district will be the outcome..

..now if it were MY 12 year old daughter forced to take a pregnancy test, that counsellor would never walk again or eat solid food...What a prick...

[dustbunnie]

13. The first line of copy in the article states that the school doesn't have pregnancy tests.

So which is it? The girl and her family are full of it maybe. The girl lied for some strange, adolescent reason like we all did when we were that age. The story is true and the counselor or nurse do keep pregnancy tests around, just in case. Any one of these is plausible so guess it'll all come out at the trial. Till then...

[The Straight Story]

15. Could be a way to cover their asses as well

superintendent denies it, then it comes out it was something only the counselor and nurse knew about, superintendent acts surprised and says 'see, our schools didn't really have anything to do with this' thus protecting the district.

[dustbunnie]

16. But it could be true though.

Although it's none of the school's business it's possible the nurse does keep pregger tests around in case kids need them but are afraid to tell their parents. It's not like 12-year-olds have never had sex before, as disturbing as that idea is. The super seems awfully "emphatic" according to the story. Wouldn't issue an apology. They must be very sure of themselves.

[Doremus]

17. What good would calling the parents do if the girl was a victim of incest?

I'm glad this turned out to be nothing, but if the girl had been a victim of incest calling the parents would have possibly made the situation worse.

Looking at it from that perspective I would have to agree with the school's involvement. It's Catch 22. These days school officials have to be prescient to pick their way through the minefield.

Things are quite frequently not black and white, as sensationalized media stories would have us believe.

[WolverineDG]

19. There's a process for that

and it does not include school officials making girls take pregnancy tests.

dg

[Still Sensible]

18. I don't get it, in most states

a school nurse can't dispense an aspirin without a parental note. WTF is this?

[8 track mind]

25. Sounds like a religious Fundy to me.

The councelor went waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to far on this one. Sue the piss out of 'em

[New Dawn]

26. That ass ("counselor") needs to be fired.

That was, undoubtedly, an incredibly traumatic event for a twelve year old.

[Ilsa]

27. Time to start rumors that the bully has an STD and the counselor likes kiddie porn.

Since the school is complicit in the rumor-mongering, the parents should start a few rumors.

[Hannah Bell]

28. Sounds like the "Pacific Justice Institute" is one of those winger union-killing operations:

"Congratulations on your desire to Choose Charity.

You have rights, about which we feel it is important that you know. Each year, you pay hundreds of dollars in union dues. Most of that money is what is called “agency fees.” The union uses this money to fund its various non-political activities.

However, many union members, like you, might disagree with these practices, based on personal religious beliefs. Unfortunately, for years, we didn’t know there was anything we could do about it. Until now.

According to section 701(j) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, workers’ religious beliefs or convictions are protected by law. Any member of the union, by simply writing a letter stating religious objections to union membership can have the “agency fee” portion of their dues contributed to a qualifying charity.

The other portion of your union dues, which unions used for “political activity”, can be refunded directly to you.

Thousands of union members across the country are taking advantage of this opportunity. You can too! Everything you need is right here.

Best of all, Pacific Justice Institute is here to help you any way we can. We have a staff of legal experts in this field and we are committed to helping you take advantage of this opportunity. And as a non-profit legal 501(c)3 organization, our help is free of charge."

http://www.pacificjustice.org/aboutus/

If they're involved, I don't trust the story.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080917/calif-utilities-giant-sued-for-funding-250k-against-gay-marriage-ban.htm

They're also involved in the Prop 8 fight...

[Hannah Bell]

29. Looks like it's one of the Scaife-wing efforts:

Become familiar with the buzzwords, organizations, and individuals that are a working part of the ultra-conservative and radical religious right/Federalist movement. Presented here is a partial list of those individuals, groups, and organizations, that are a working part of the Radical Religious Right movement.

a.) Organizations, groups, businesses;

Amway, Coors Brewing, The Federalist Society, The Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, Stratford Capital Group, Eagle Forum, Salem Communications Corporation, Good News Communications, Leadership Institute, American Center for Law and Justice, Free Congress Foundation, Colorado Leadership Forum, the Independence Institute, Pacific Justice Institute...

http://www.geocities.com/ensey_in_2000/against.html.

http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/released/homeschooling/Heritage.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/462/000023393/

etc.