Public School Helps Girl Get Abortion
 

In an unbelievable case that should outrage parents across the country, a public high school in Washington State helped a 15-year-old student get an abortion during school hours without parental consent.

The teenage girl had taken a pregnancy test at the school’s health center, according to a local news report, and administrators subsequently arranged for her to get an abortion at a county-run clinic. The girl was given a pass during school hours, put in a taxi and sent off to a local facility that’s overseen by the King County Health Department in Seattle. It is not known what classes she missed or if she will be allowed to make up the work.

The girl’s mother says the only consent form she signed allowed her daughter to be treated at the school’s health center for ailments such as earaches and sports physicals but not for terminating a pregnancy. She assures that nowhere in the paperwork does it mention “abortion or facilitating abortion.”

Clinic officials told the girl that if she concealed the pregnancy from her family, the abortion would be free of charge and there would be no financial responsibility. The school (Ballard High) is the Seattle District which is the largest in Washington State with more than 45,000 students in 88 schools.

District officials claim they have no knowledge of what goes on in the high school clinics because the district doesn’t run them. The private company that operates the health facilities, Swedish Medical Center, protects students’ privacy and never divulges medical information, they say.

link

Someone help me, what law was broken?

I pretty much stopped reading there. I'm just not a fan of advocacy journalism.

Ok...and I thought I was the only crazy one.

This happens more than you'd think.

Discretion is key.

As far as laws go, one would have to be versed in Washington law to answer that question... and whether the consent form could be construed to allow the school to assist in procuring abortions would require more info than we have.

I don't think we have have anybody on the Washington Bar here, so obviously we won't take what you say as Gospel. that being said, what is the law on this? Does a child require consent from the parents for an abortion or can they make that decision themselves?

ETA: So according to the full article, she didn't require consent for the abortion. In fact that only things that seems off is that she does require consent to miss classes.

No kidding. You don't say...

It's not an area I've dealt with ever. I don't have a Washington Westlaw subscription, so I'm not even going to hazard a guess.

Speechless, if true.

I find it odd/disturbing that they pushed her to hide it from her family. So was this a "public funded" abortion then?

What if there was some medical complication causing injury during the abortion (an elective procedure, not a medical emergency)? Who would answer for that?

Personally, I don't think that medical procedures should be performed on minors without a parent/guardian's consent, except in the case of emergency.

I can't believe the school district would open itself up to the liability in this case.

Legally in Washington State, she does not need consent.

I'd be really leery of trusting anything in this article. It might be true, it might not be -- but even if true, you can count on it being spun for maximum effect.

ETA: I found the same quote in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. That said, I find myself a little leery of trusting what the mother says (that presumably her daughter, whom the mother describes as a "pro-life advocate," told her) without hearing anything from the other side. Something doesn't sound quite right. I'm guessing that the mother never would have known if the daughter hadn't told her. Maybe it's just like the mother said, but I can't help but wonder if the daughter was feeling some major guilt and maybe described things in a way to deflect some of that guilt.

If that is the case, then she should have gone by herself, on her own time.

The school should not have provided her transportation or aided in her truancy. In fact, unless you are 18, you can't leave school property, for like a doctor's appt, without a parent/guardian physically coming to the school and getting you. At least that is the case here.

Very good point.


@MC

Can we use this as an actual news article?



A Seattle mother is irate after she said her 15-year-old daughter's school arranged an abortion for her daughter without her knowledge.
Mom says school helped assist in her daughter's abortion during school hours.

The mother, whose name has been withheld at her request to protect her privacy, told ABC News' Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV that the clinic gave her daughter a pass and helped her get a taxi that took her to a facility where she underwent an abortion.

The mother did not immediately return messages left by ABCNews.com. It was not immediately clear how far along in the pregnancy the teen was at the time of the abortion.

The mother said that she had signed a consent form that permitted her daughter to go to the teen health center on the campus of Ballard High School for what she believed were ailments like earaches, or for routine physicals, but not for an abortion.

"She took a pregnancy test at school at the teen health center," the mother told KOMO. "Nowhere in the paperwork does it mention abortion or facilitating abortion."

The form also allowed her daughter to receive birth control from the school's health clinic, the mother said.

But even so, the mother is furious that her daughter, who is on the school's honor roll, was given an abortion without the school notifying her parents.

"We had no idea this was being facilitated on campus," said the mother. "They just told her that if she concealed it from her family, that it would be free of charge and no financial responsibility."

A spokeswoman for the Seattle School District, which includes Ballard High School, declined to comment and referred all questions to the King County Health Department, the administrator of school-based health programs.

Or to even notify her parents, which is the case in many states.

Sounds like mom needs to have a talk with her daughter instead of the media.

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.

Setting womankind back one post at a time.

yeah but it's high school, it's not like people won't put it together

I don't get why parents should be outraged either. (saying that in reference to the opening paragraph of the article)

If people that age don't require consent from parents to get an abortion, even if the school did send her off to do it, so what? I admit I don't know the law on that, but if she asked for their help, I'm not exactly sure what would prevent them from helping her. I could only see an issue if she required parental consent for the abortion.

As far as leaving school without consent, I can't see the school facing a heavy punishment over that. They will probably face a reprimand, but that's about it.

I'm seeing a big difference between a school and a clinic HOUSED in a school, which is run by a third party. They are not one entity from what I can tell. The clinic which happens to be housed in the school but which is a private clinic, very well may have called a cab and written the girl a doctor's note to miss class, just like another doctor might do if they referred someone to a specialist.

I'm completely speculating here, but I was once a teenage girl and can't imagine being in that situation and telling my mom or da. I knew they wouldn't hate me, kick me out, or force me to have or not have an abortion or adoption. If this is her's mother response, I'd imagine I'd talk to the school nurse as well instead of my mom.

Completely hyperbolic, but there hasn't been an outraged father mentioned, what if the girl was sexually assaulted by her mother's boyfriend or a step-father? Even if that's not the case there is so much shame and other emotional issues I can't imagine what she was going through if she had been sexually assaulted by a stranger or someone she knows.

As for leaving the school I could ahve walked out at lunch or the passing period with no question as we had many students who took classes not offered at our site at other high schools or the community college. My parents never had to sign me out and a note was just for the teachers who would have done an unexcused absence or were sticklers.

Did they really call her a cab? Don't the majority of teenagers have a cell phone, so maybe they provided a phone numer to XYZ cab company. I'm more concerned that she had a medical procedure and that no one went with her. I can only hope that detail wasn't mentioned and she did have someone who kept an eye on her afterwards since it is an outpatient medical procedure and even with a local there could be some bleeding issues.

I was 14. Again, this was my freshman year in high school so yeah, I said they were little whores. And in honestly, I only know 2 girls who got abortions during high school. It seemed that everyone else were popping out their kids. And sorry to say but the guys weren't labeled at all. It's not right but its life. Especially high school!

Abortion
 

Wow - I can't believe that this type of stuff occurs. The Conservatives and Catholic Church would tear this case up. First of all, if the child is out having sex while living in the parent's house then it should be addressed to the parents or move out. I understand that rape is possible but even in that case the parent should still know. This is crazy.

Huh? Nevermind.

I wish we had someone to speak to what is contained in Washington law. I am surprised that a child can leave campus without permission - ours can't go ANYWHERE without a permission slip - even my 17 year old.

This story makes my stomach hurt.
:-(