If a child is raped...?

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Riah	Why in the hell would you even ask this question? No, not every female able to menstruate and get pregnant is ready and able to take care of a child. What about those of us who get our period early? I started when I was 8. Imagine an 8 year old trying to take care of a baby. Thats ridiculous. Let alone an 8 year old that was raped. They'd probably kill the baby. I do believe in abortion. If that child is not going to have a good situation any way you slice it, better it not be born at all. Then, just face up to God later. You did what you had to do. Yeah, sure, there are lots of willing, caring parents out there that would love to adopt a baby, but how many of them really do adopt? And what if your baby isnt adopted when theyre little? Theyve missed their window of opportunity. Everyone usually only wants babies. I would never put a child through foster care. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Bunny Lebowski	"Plenty of people who would love to have a baby and can't." Well what about the plenty of good kids just waiting to be adopted but haven't been yet b/c of bureaucracy and red tape b.s.? Why keep adding to that pool? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

silkbutterfly1973	I bet if it was your daughter Raped and pregnant by her rapist you would certanintly feel differently about the whole situation Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Elephant Box.	i truly think it depends on hwo old they are. if you are too small it can severly hurt you. i think it really should be left to the person who gets raped. they should have the choice. if i was raped and i became pregnant, i wuld want to have the baby and would want my parents to keep it, if they would do that for me. i would want it to live and have a good life. i think that if i would be able to have it without dying i would, and even if i would die, i still might. i personally am against abortion, but believe it is right to let rape victims have a choice. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Angel	So you are saying that if a 9 year old is raped (some girls have their period at 9) and gets pregnant then they should have the baby... Is it me but what is wrong with that above sentence.. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Fraulein	That all being said... a child, who begins menstruating becomes a young woman but it doesn't mean she can raise a child nor should she have to keep the child from being impregnated...no matter what the world needs... I think a child, who is traumatized from being raped, shouldn't continue to be traumatized by having to give birth... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

JenV	I don't believe that we can use puberty and the ability to mestruate/conceive as a determining factor in whether a "child" is now and "adult." While there are many girls who may be physically capable of becoming pregnant, the strain of carrying a child to term could be far to stressful on their still-developing bodies. I don't believe it's a failure of society to treat 12-, 13- or 14-year-olds as adults. Additionally, even if it were a rape situation, a young teen would have to go through a lot of torment for her situation, as very few people would stop to think that she might have been raped, and would assume she is carrying the child only because of her own poor decisions. If I had a girl who was raped at a young age and became pregnant (or became pregnant through her own decisions, for that matter), personally, I would want to let her make the decision on whether or not to abort or have the child, but I would also want her to have full information from a doctor on what the risks would be to her health in carrying the child, and I would have a long discussion with her on how society would view her as a child carrying a child. I don't believe it would make her an adult, but I do believe that even as a child she is old enough to be involved in a decision that is so personal to her. With that being said, I am very strongly against the "adoption" argument against abortion. While it is true that there are many, many families out there who would love to have children of their own but can't, adoption is an expensive process and not all of those families who would love to have children would even be approved to have them. There are so many children who grow up without homes because they are "too old" or they weren't adopted in that little window of time when they were babies. So I would discuss all options with my daughter - abortion, having the child and working with me (her parents) to raise the child, or offering the child up for adoption - and together we could come to a decision. Because ultimately, whether we describe a young mother as still a child or as an adult, whatever the outcome of the decision is, it is one the woman will have to live with for the rest of her life. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

kay_flood	I could not disagree with you more. It takes a great deal more than the physical ability to have a child to be able to effectively raise that same child, a great deal more. Emotional maturity, financial stability, and physical stamina to name just a few things that adolescents simply do NOT have. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ebmid2	I agree, partly. Teenagers should be given more responsibilities than they have in modern American society (which I think was your point, rape aside). When I was 14 I thought I could handle more responsibility, and now that I'm 26 I still think I could have handled it when I was 14. 14 year olds were able to behave like adults in past societies, and they are just as capable now. But some things have changed. Today the best jobs require knowledge of things like calculus, and 14 year olds haven't yet had time to learn that. So as society gets more complicated, it requires more education, which delays the onset of the productive period of life. Plus, in the past people lived with their parents even after they became adults, and the grandparents helped raise their grandkids. Nowadays people move out on their own, and if you're going to do that, you should probably wait longer before having kids. It's sweet of you to want to adopt a kid, but don't be in too much of a rush. Hopefully you'll live a long life, and you'll have plenty of time to adopt a lot of kids if you want to. If you take a few years in your late teens and early twenties to get a good education and a good job, it'll be worth the time, since it'll be a huge help for the rest of your life. Also note that rape need not result in pregnancy, since people who are raped can take the morning after birth control pill, and that will prevent them from getting pregnant. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

I <3 Jonas brothers!	You just answered your own question Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Sabrina Devareoux	yes, but the beast could have some genetic disorder, or a sexually transmitted disease, would you want a child to take hiv drugs his whole life? or would you rather the save the child. 12 year olds who just start menstruation get raped and get pregnant, if she is "capable" of carrying a child, would you want her to? she is a mere child! there are enough foster children as it is. if they dont have loving parents, then they shouldnt even be born. it would save them a lot of stress and the feeling of "im not wanted! no one wants me!" Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Mel	Unless you're talking about a tribe in the middle of Africa, I absolutely disagree. In our society, a child cannot raise a baby and give it all it needs emotionally, physically, financially, etc. Just because a 12 year old gets her period and can physically become pregnant doesn't give her an automatic "mother" card. Giving birth and being a mother are two very different things. Where would a 12 year old work to make money for shelter, food, healthcare, clothing, etc.? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

buddhist_20	overpopulation...ever heard of it? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

nemofish	I disagree....and your first paragraph is awful....god forbid anyone gets raped...and why use a child as an example??? and no, just because a 12 year old gets her period, she's not old enough to take care of a baby....and she is still a child... Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

live and let live	Just because a girl gets her period doesn't mean she is ready to take care of a baby. First of all, there is a REASON we start getting breasts and hips later on. How many 9-12 year olds have big hips and breasts? I thought so! For example, junior section clothing is for girls who DO NOT HAVE HIPS! Why do we get bigger hips in our late teens and 20s? For bearing children!!! I personally would never get an abortion. But i have NOTHING against anyone who wants one for the right reasons. It is a personal decision, and they should not be judged for it. BUT, if i were raped i would get an abortion. I don't know if I could handle the fact that a baby of mine was out there who was created through hate. And that guy up above is totally right...there are SOOO many children waiting to be adopted..both in the US and abroad..why just add to that? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

HCB	I definitely disagree. To say pregnancy would make a child no longer a child is as good as saying a broken hymen is a sign that a girl is now an adult woman. Or at least to me. shrug I do think that to a certain extent, young teenagers (I'm thinking maybe 16 and above here) are "quite capable of taking care of a baby", but at what cost? Taking care of a baby requires a lot of effort and time. Are the teenagers to neglect their studies or drop out altogether? Who's gonna be the one bringing in the dough for school fees and a baby? It seems to me that to ask teenagers to take care of their own babies would be equivalent to asking them to give up what's left of their remaining childhood. Going back to your question... Most girls start menstruating when they're around 12 or 13 years old, and even some as young as 10 (less often, though). They are barely capable of being responsible and taking care of themselves, let alone another young life. Rape victims already suffer immense trauma from the experience... Do they really need a living reminder in their own bodies for the next eight or nine months? It's a little cruel to expect them to carry to full term a baby they did not ask for. (Edited to add:) Just because you're physically able to reproduce doesn't mean you're mentally prepared for it. Women are marrying later and/or having children at a higher age now. Why's that? Because they've had chances at (higher) education that were previously deemed unimportant for women ages ago. They're less reliant on men, and they are not stuck with the role of a housewife or full-time nurturing mother if they don't want to play that role They now have the chance to pursue a career, to fulfill themselves in other ways than what society used to expect from them. Those girls from centuries ago that you mentioned; they didn't have the same opportunities or chances now, did they? Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

ripsgracie	A rape victim carrying a child and putting it up for adoption would only remind the victim every day of the atrocity done to her, knowing there is a child out there somewhere that was a product of the rape. For the victim to overcome what happened, all aspects of the rape should be eliminated. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Kat	children are CHILDREN. Babies should NOT be having babies. Until you are 18, you cannot enter into legal decisions. I'm afraid the parents make the final decision on abortion or not for their child. It is not HEALTHY for a 13 year old to have a baby. Just because you CAN get pregnant, doesn't mean you SHOULD. The 13 year old would NOT be the parent, because they are STILL the child. abortion occurs within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, usually (anything after that, not even I condone). It is NOT a baby, it is a ball of cells. If my 13 year old got pregnant, I would probably be depressed because I would have failed as a parent for not teaching my child well enough about the birds and the bees. Sex is a decision that should be made by two parties that UNDERSTAND what they are doing. When I was 13, I didn't fully comprehend what sex was, I didn't need to be having it, so I didn't. When I was 17, I was still young, but I understood and I certainly wasn't a child anymore even though I wasn't an adult yet. But if I DID get pregnant, I could have been held accountable because I accepted responsibility. That is the difference. A child cannot accept responsibility. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Laurena	well no i dont think children who have children arent kids because they are they just got raped they arent mature enough to raise a kid and yes in this case you need to have an abortion because this baby is not a sex baby its a rape baby and its just hurtful to be pregnant when you didnt even consent to having sex and it just brings all the memories back when they are carrying the baby so its just best to abort it Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

rtippie57	First of all let me begin by saying, that all sex offenders should face the death penalty! NO EXCEPTIONS! And no, any female old enough to menstrate cannot care for a child. There are some with Downs Syndrome, Tourettes, Hydroencephalopathy and so on and so on. The mind of a 10 or 11 year old girl is not developed enough to care for a child,unable to determine the child's needs. I believe that a woman can choose for herself if she is quite capable of caring for a child. Lastly, there is no child in this world that has done anything so wrong that warrants being raped! That is why I promote expanding the death penalty to sex cases!!! Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Go Bears!	I don't like your example of rape... Your point of adolescence would be better made by the fact that kids are actively engaging in sexual intercourse and do get pregnant. Your beliefs on abortion do not factor in to whether adolescence is a myth or not. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Lori K	My adolescent IS a child. It's no myth. My first clung to her childhood as long as she could. I don't, as a rule, believe in abortion, BUT if a child is raped, I feel that her life is endangered...both physically and emotionally. I think an abortion is justified in this instance. I'd hope, however, that the alternative birth control pill would be given to her immediately so that abortion wouldn't have to BE a choice for her. Abortion is also psychologically damaging and can be physically dangerous. I'd rather she didn't have to face that either. As to menstruation. I had my first period at age 11. I was NOT mature enough to be considered an adult. That wasn't society's fault. The idea that our sexualization of young children (which society IS guilty of) is the way that things should be is repulsive to me. Sorry. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Lamont	I think you've been fed a lie if you believe this. I have 3 daughters - they're not able to think like adults until they are 18-22. Read up on that. Children are children even if their bodies are maturing. There is no way a 15 yr old would be prepared for motherhood. AND younger? I don't think so. I am pro-life, however, I also don't believe it's God's intention for a little girl to go through pregnancy and labor when she's still growing herself in mind and body. This whole topic is insane. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

edepillim	I disagree. Being raped may errode much of the innocence of youth but it does not alter the state of youth. A raped child becomes not an adult woman via the experience of rape, but rather just that -- a raped child, but still a child. A child who has experience severe trauma. Menstruating and the ability to get pregnant does NOT make one capable of taking care of a baby. It doesn't even make one is physically capable of carrying a child to term or to give birth without serious complications. Puberty does not make someone mentally mature to rear a child. Or old enough to provide for a child financially. And as for the abortion aspect, it seems a tremendous burden to as the victim of a violent act, and certainly a child, to concede to devoting the time and energy needed to carry or birth their rapists offspring. I don't think a child should have to suffer this burden for physical and emotional reasons. It's true that many people want children and can't have them but there is no shortage of children looking to be adopted. ---- It isn't society's fault a child is not mature enough to take care of a child. It is situation of being young and not having the life experience necessary to do so. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

prplfae	really? because i started menstrating when i was 11, and child labor laws prohibit anyone under 15 to get a job...if you do the math that would make my child four years old before i could feed him or get diapers...i'm pretty sure it would die within the first week. i don't agree with abortion either, but you are completely wrong! yes, we were designed to be capible of having and caring for a baby when we start menstration, but with the world as it is today it would be impossible to raise a child with no help any younger than sixteen years old. maybe you should think of all aspects before you preach Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

vagabondxanarch	What are you retarded. This day and age most full grown adults can't handle raising a child. And here you are spouting off about raped children raising a living scar from one of the most horrible experiences of their very short lives. There is no myth of adolescence. I think a portion of the population should be fixed so they can't produce more children and bring them up wrong. You make me sick. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

TwinsFan2300	I don't think someone as young as 11 could take care of a child. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

notyou311	If you don't believe in abortion, don't have one. Otherwise it is none of your business. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

G.O.A.T.	That's a lot to ask of a person... spend 9 months carrying a baby that's a constant reminder of when they got raped. Could you do it? Probably not... This reminds me of the protesters that sit outside the Planned Parenthood building on my block... I hope they feel good about themselves when they barrage cars entering the parking lot with young girls trying to forget about a horrible rape. Anyone who forces their own judgment on others is wrong... all those protesters do is make women feel worse about an already horrible situation. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

Red_F	How many kids have YOU personally adopted? If you haven't adopted any, you should put your money where your mouth is. There are WAY too many kids wiating for adoption in the USA and they are abused and neglected. Being aborted is better for most. God will give them a second chance and a better life. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No

jjjjjjjjj	Up until about a century ago wooing a girl when she was around 12 years of age and her marrying by age 14 was quite common. The advent of the Industrial Revolution is what brought about longer lifespans and less need for procreation at an early age, so adolescence was extended by society even though there was no actual physical need for doing so. This is one thing that gets me when people show such vicious behaviour towards men who find girls of the ages of 12 up attractive. If it was a century ago, which only amounts to a few generations, then there would be no problem. Being attracted to them goes far back. Helen of Troy was only 12 years of age but her face "launched a thousand ships". Denying that there should be an attraction and calling that attraction perverse when that attraction existed as a natural staple of humanity for eons is moronic. The only reason children who have reached the stage of menarche are still considered children today is that we have made them that way, not because they aren't capable of being adults. The legal of in the UK is still around 16, sometimes as low as 14 and 15. This is because they don't adhere to the myth of adolescence as the questioner puts it. The people of the USA act as though they are more sophisticated than others in such matters, but are actually more full of pomposity than anything else. BTW This is the section of that site you should have linked, or at least the part you wanted them to view for debate and reference: http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2005/08/myth-of-adolescence-part-1/ This would take the people to the relevant part of it that you are speaking of. Additional: The point she is making, I believe, is that the only reason a person is still considered to be a child or adolescent well beyond the onset of menarche is because society has imposed this upon them, and as I tried to point out this is a very recent development overall. Society, especially that of the USA, hinders the rate at which they reach emotional and mental maturity by prolonging childhood. It isn't that they could not that reach maturity, because they used to and do in other societies. It's that they are kept from it. And since they are kept from it and the society they are in is designed to keep them from it, then they seldom reach that level of maturity as early as they do as that of physical maturity. It's not that the "adolescents" aren't capable, it's that the society they reside in has kept them from becoming capable. Not much more than a century has passed since people of that age were made wives and starting families, yet somehow within that time this has not only become abnormal but considered to be abhorrent. Something that existed for centuries on end suddenly seems extremely wrong, but not because it inherently is wrong, but because it is chosen to be wrong. This seems nonsensical to me. As she has pleaded, take away the rape aspect of her question since she herself feels it was a bad example, and concentrate on the myth that has sprung up that adolescence actually really still exists once menarche begins. Was this answer helpful to you? Yes / No