Now she has to face the fact that this is my own baby daughter, and if she thinks she can control my rights over her, she can go to hell.

Of course, I understand that you’re not exactly promoting this as some kind of benefit of the policy. Just musing on how even when they try to make these policies “equal” (when they would still be bogus, regardless), they’re not.

Stay tuned! ~deborah

and i’m the one that’s out of line for wanting to be involved here?”

so you want a cookie for doing what parents are supposed to do? being a parent, raising a child and all that does take sacrifices, and no one should ever have to enter into that in any situation except of their own free will. including our children.

maybe you should take cara’s advice, and take a good long look at the relationship you have w/ your kid. if your kid isn’t telling you something there is probably a damn good reason…if she doesn’t feel comfortable coming to you for help then maybe you need to reevaluate how you interact w/ her. if parents stop acting like wardens of morals and maybe spend a little more time cheerleading and listening perhaps their children would come to them first…give them the tools…one of the rights of being a teenager is the right to screw up…and we as parents need to be ready to guide them through it. but is should be guidance, not damage control. spend some more time trying to be there for them. if you want to be involved, do it, and start young enough to build the foundation.

stop counting on laws to do what you are supposed to be doing anyway.

re: sunder, great points! yes they are our children, but they are not our property! i wish more parents would see the value of treating their children w/ the respect they need. instead of acting like property owners w/ trophies to show off, maybe try a little interaction…i have worked full time my Kid’s whole life and can still manage to have an awesome relationship w/ her. sure, she is still a kid and needs guidance, but instead of telling her what to think and decide i give her the tools she needs to do it for herself.

I was under the impression that a woman under the age of 17 or 18, depending on the state, requires parental consent for marriage regardless of being pregnant. In other words, the parental right to consent to an underage marriage supersedes the right to emancipation, if the purpose of the emancipation is to get married. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Also, would automatic emancipation due to pregnancy be to the detriment or benefit of the teen? I only ask because I am unfamiliar with laws concerning parents’ obligation to care for their underage daughter’s child, if such an obligation exists. And if said obligation exists, and emancipation automatically severs that obligation, wouldn’t the girl and her child be left in a more difficult situation? This question would be irrelevant if unquestioning parental support and/or unquestioning support of a significant other was a given, or the teen in question is already self-sufficient, but obviously these conditions are often times not there.

The answer to this seems relevant to issues of right to notification. While I generally support a teen’s right to privacy when it comes to something like pregnancy and access to health services related to STDs, contraception, abortion, etc., I wonder if this might cloud the issue a bit.