Wednesday, December 20, 2006

OUR SAD & SICK SOCIETY

Mom Tells Advice Columnist: I May Force My Daughter to Have Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 19
, 2006

Freeport, NY (LifeNews.com) -- A New York mother has written to national advice columnist Harriette Cole saying she wants her pregnant 14 year-old daughter to have an abortion. The letter points to the alarming trend of parents forcing their children to have abortions when they discover their teenage daughters are pregnant.

Virginia, a Freeport, New York resident, writes to Cole, the author of the nationally syndicated advice column, "Sense and Sensitivity," that her daughter recently informed her she is five weeks pregnant.

The New York mom describes her home situation -- she's a single mother of two children who can barely make ends meet -- and tells Cole "I am so upset this has happened to my family."

"Since I am the head of the household, I feel I have a say in what action should be taken," Virginia says.

"I don't want her to have the baby. I want to force her to have an abortion, but I don't know if I should leave her with the option to make the decision on her own," Virginia concludes.

Cole's response appears to support Virginia's daughter having an abortion, though she mentions adoption as a possibility.

"Explain to your daughter you cannot afford to support her and a child. Break reality down to her financially so she gets a full picture of what she's facing," Cole responds. "Discuss her options -- including adoption. Abortion is not the only solution."

The letter points to the problem of some parents forcing abortion on their teenage daughters instead of finding them help for their pregnancy and giving them realistic options.

It also highlights two recent forced abortion cases.

In October, the parents of a 19 year-old Maine woman who allegedly attempted to take her to New York for a forced abortion have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault and terrorizing. Nicholas and Lola Kampf were arrested in New Hampshire after apparently tying their daughter up and forcing her into their car.

The Kampfs were arrested at a K-Mart in Salem, New Hampshire after their daughter Katelyn escaped when they let her out of the vehicle to use the restroom. She had obtained one of their cell phones and called police at a Staples store.

Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion previously told the Associated Press that Katelyn said her parents wanted her to have an abortion because Johnson is black.

Dion previously indicated that Katelyn said her mother "was pretty irate at the fact that the child's father was black, and she had made a number of disparaging remarks about that."

He said the Kampfs had treated Katelyn's boyfriend well until they received a phone call from her last Thursday indicating she was pregnant. That apparently "changed the dynamic" he said.

Dion indicated Katelyn told him her mother "kept referring to the baby as a thing, as 'It,' and there were other comments made."

Meanwhile, in September, Columbus, Georgia police arrested the mother and two cousins of a 16 year-old girl who are accused of forcing her to drink turpentine in an attempt to kill her baby in an abortion.

Rozelletta B. Blackshire was charged with cruelty to a child and criminal abortion Columbus Police Sgt. Debra Bohannon indicated. The teenager's cousins, 26 year-old Shonda Y. Blackshire of Columbus and 28 year-old Monica M. Johnson of Eufaula, Alabama, were also arrested.

Blackshire and the cousins forced the girl to drink turpentine twice between September 12 and September 20 and Bohannon indicated they may have tried to force her to have an abortion because they were supposedly worried about an unrelated health problem the pregnancy could have impacted.

ACTION: Send your comments about Harriette Cole's advice to Virginia to askharriette@harriettecole.com.



Printed from: http://www.lifenews.com/nat2835.html

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