Perhaps the consent the mother said that she did sign provided for the school to arrange for her to get to the clinic?

Lots of schools have work study programs, or used to - i.e. if you are in line with the credits you should have for your class year, and can finagle your schedule so that the last 1-2 periods of your day are study halls, you can leave early to go to your job. Your parents have to approve you doing this but they most certainly don't have to come and get you every day like you're 5. And I know that people often left our HS by themselves for orthodontist appointments (the most popular ortho was a block from the school and it would have been ridiculous for parents to drive 15 miles into town to "escort" their child).

I'm betting there are other factors here (i.e. the mom beat the crap out of her daughter when she found out she was pregnant).

As far as that site that the first article came from, here's the wiki on them. Anything financed by Dickie Scaife is far from nonpartisan and just confirms my above suspicions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch

All of this is from the mother's perspective anyway. Who knows what really happened and if the school had anything to do with it. The daughter may have put it on the school to try and save her butt. Apparently no parental consent is needed in that state to get an abortion so her argument on that front is worthless. Whether or not she left school to get her abortion hasn't been established. Personally, this seems like an intrusion on this poor girls privacy.

This.

And this.

You could be completely correct, that might have happened. There is obviously somethings we don't know about this story. My school didn't have a health clinic...just a nurse's office, lol. I don't even remember my mom signing a form allowing the nurse to give us aspirin, so I don't know what kind of consent form that school has parents sign.


Where I'm at (like i said in my other post)...you had to be 18 to be able to just sign yourself out and go to the doctors. Otherwise your parent or whoever your parent designated as an 'emergency' contact had to physically be there.

Its obviously different where you are at.

she probably didn't want everybody in school to know and now the whole country knows.

Not exactly...her identity has not been revealed

That's a state by state thing. In Michigan, a kid can legally drop out of school at 16. Therefore, once 16, they don't go after kids for truancy. They can pretty much come and go as they please then. I don't know what the age is in Washington.

I'm always wary of any story that is only reported from one side and where it's illegal for the other side to say a word. There's no way to hear the school's side.

As a Washingtonian but not a lawyer... I agree with epchick. The school should not have facilitated it to the degree they did- during school hours, and transportation to boot. I remember not being able to go on field trips because I didn't get my permission slip signed (albeit a different school district, but close by), so even helping with transportation is a huge violation of most school policies.

It seems like the mother is holding the school accountable. The health clinic is a third party- why aren't we hearing about what the school is doing to hold the clinic accountable? They should be following the same rules as the school district, I would think, since they are treating the students essentially on behalf of the school and would not have access to the students without the school. Of course that angle isn't nearly as salacious as the mom's point of view.

The Seattle PI article is much better than the special journalism of judicialwatch.com. It's next to impossible to eliminate all bias when reporting, but damn they did not even think about trying. Although side note, you can tell how relatively liberal it is out here by reading some of the comments on the PI article. Would've had very different comments in other parts of the country (or even other parts of WA).

I agree. I'm just going to wait until more details come out. There is something suspicious about this story.

Sometimes teens or college students can apply to receive aid for an abortion from private funds. It could have been such a situation.

I don't think the school should've gotten her a taxi and helped her get there during school hours...that just seems like a horrible idea from a liability stand point, but I imagine the fact that she's an honor student and probably felt strongly about the possibilities of limiting her academic future made the powers that be sympathetic.

The school nurse should've just guided her in the right direction. A pamphlet from the clinic or a Planned Parenthood and a taxi service number if she needed it. I also doubt, though, that it happened exactly as it's being reported.

My High school did that
 

I remember when we had our first freshman orientation in high school, they separated the girls and guys. The nurse told us females that if we think we are pregnant any time we are there, to come to her and she'd give us a pregnancy test. Ok.. so I'm like free pregnancy tests? Convenient for the little whores. Now next she says, "If you are pregnant and want to discuss your options, come talk to me as well. We have a program that picks you up during your first class of the day and brings you back to school by 5th period."

Again, I'm thinking... how convenient to get your prenatal care and doctor's appointment during school hours for the lil whores. But then she hits us with "If you choose to terminate your pregnancy, you have to have the money for the termination" and they STILL take you! I was amazed but I thought all public schools did that in my area.

^^^ Funny how everyone is a whore until it's you.

Does "lil whores" also apply to the boys who are having sex, or can they not be whores because they can't be the ones getting pregnant and seeking an abortion? People should not interpret the sexual activity of girls and boys differently just because they can have different outcomes.

I was definitely in the minority when I wasn't a sexually active high schooler. But, I also knew that not all of the girls and boys who were sexually active were "whores." Some of them were in what they considered long term and loving relationships (a child's version, of course). I don't agree with it, but I'm not surprised by it. A very sexual society such as this need not be confused as to why children want to "join in on the fun;" and also why many children see love and sex as synonymous. Parental supervision and the socialization of morality only goes but so far if children are curious about what all the hooplah is about. I knew girls back in the 80s and 90s who got pregnant or an STD after their first time--and some of them used condoms. It sucks that they were labeled whores while the boys got to escape the label and stigma.

Agree. I am pro-life but there is definitely something a little off with this story. I think Mystic is right. The girl may now be feeling remorse. I seriously doubt anyone forced an abortion on her. She was probably just scared and in a panic and took what she thought was the easiest way to get through this ordeal. It is unfortunate the way it has turned out.