According to statistics I’ve read—abstinence certainly ain’t working in this country no matter what the religious bigots have to say. Teenage pregnancy is expanding at a high rate here and I see nothing about abstinence that will stop it.

OK, I found and read Carol J’s post and found it full of wisdom. I have only this to add: When a young girl ends up pregnant and alone, society at all levels has failed, from the nuclear family and on up. No one could deny that. The young woman requires and is entitled to the support of the entire community in assisting her in making decisions required to adequately provide for her child, should she decide to carry it to term, and for herself and her own future. Failure to provide such support is , not only unethical and morally wrong, it is also terribly shortsighted on the part of the society. Children raised by young, uneducated single mothers are, as we all know, astronomically more suspectible to everything negative in the world. As a person who is , somewhat familiar , with the good ole’ boy concept of social responsibility, I’m not one little bit surprised about the reactions of the Texas legislature. Even with the wonderfully bright people who have come from there, Barbara Jordan, Molly Ivans, Ann Richards, to name three, it is still, predominately, ‘Shrub’ Country. Having said all of that, I also have to make this observation: I have known , in my time, many young women who were pregnant and alone. . I have , always, tried, to the best of my ability ,to provide them with non-judgmental support for whatever decisions they felt they had to make. . Not one of them, even those in the most desparate of circumstances, killed their living child and stuffed him/her into the garbage for disposal. At sixteen, children know right from wrong. Their moral character has been , to a very great extent, formed. To take that extra step that leads to infanticide involves, to my way of thinking, a character flaw.