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Editorial
Options available for young women in crisis pregnancies
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Few issues are more divisive or generate more controversy than abortion, legalized on a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1973.
"Pro-choice" women and men took to the streets in Poland Monday to derail a complete ban on abortion that was making its way through the national legislature.
In their debate, both vice presidential candidates professed personal opposition to abortion while still differing whether it should be allowed or restricted.
It's easy to become detached from the debate over pregnancy and personal choice when discussing national policy, but specific cases bring the issue into sharp focus.
One such case is that of a 16-year-old girl, charged as an adult with felony child abuse resulting in death after she allegedly threw her newborn baby out of a second-floor apartment window.
Investigators say she was alone in her bedroom early Friday morning, went into labor and gave birth to the premature, two-pound baby. Authorities say she then threw the infant out the window and told her mother.
The teen and baby were taken to a hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead.
A two-pound premature baby might have had medical struggles, but the tragedy is the baby didn't get the chance.
That's especially true because there are so many other options available for scared young women in the same situation.
Locally, there's the ABC Pregnancy Help Center, 110 West C, 2nd Floor Suite 26, (308) 350-0126.
Statewide, the Nebraska Children's Home Society offers many services, but admittedly "no easy answers."
To help find the best answer for the woman and child, the agency offers free and confidential services 24/7, (877) 420-4747.
They include help finding prenatal care, local resources, options for adoption or parenting, education and support to family and friends, the father's legal rights and responsibilities, and birth parent support groups.
And those are only two of a number of agencies that are ready and willing to help women with crisis pregnancies set a course of action they and their child can live with.