Different as Night and Day

It was the prom. Music blared loudly as the crowds of teenagers danced uninhibited, letting their cares slip away. Amongst the festivity, one girl walked casually into the bathroom, gave birth and returned to the party leaving her newborn to die in the trash.

A bill recently proposed might have saved that child. If this bill had existed, there is a strong possibility she would not have felt forced into her decision.

In a society where unwanted pregnancies occur by the minute, where young women are forced to make emotional decisions before they can legally vote, another choice between keeping the child and abandoning the newborn in a dumpster would be welcomed. Right now, a bill is being juggled that would open to these victims that middle option. In America today, teens are more sexually active than ever. Despite concern over diseases such as AIDS, teenage sex is a common occurrence. Though most use some form of protection such as condoms or birth control, accidents do happen. It is when accidents occur that these impregnated young mothers realize what has happened, and this is when they panic.

A once bright future is destroyed due to one mistake, and as a result some pregnant teenagers make irrational decisions. Abortion clinics, controversial places where unwanted babies may be aborted privately, offer a quick and easy way to get rid of an unexpected child and provide an alternative to giving birth to the baby and abandoning it. Considered murder by some, an abortion kills the child before it is born.

An equally effective method of dealing with undesired babies is to abandon the newborn somewhere or kill the child immediately after giving birth. This, unlike abortion, is an act of murder and is punishable with a heavy prison sentence.

The alternative to aborting a baby is to keep the child. Juggling school responsibilities, work and a baby all at once is a difficult task. It is because of this that babies are aborted or abandoned by mothers who cannot live with the responsibility.

If this bill passes, centers that have the ability to save the lives of both mother and child will be opened. These centers allow a mother with an unwanted child to drop off the child within three days of its birth, no questions asked. Essentially, these centers are the medium between two extreme alternatives that were once the only choices.

These centers will undoubtedly save lives, as the "no questions asked" policy is far more appealing than abortion. Pregnant women will realize that her baby can live and she can carry on her life as before.

Some may argue that these centers are merely encouraging teens to take the easy way out and abandon their children rather than live with the consequences of their actions. However, these centers are targeted at mothers who thought murdering their unwanted babies was their only option. Now, these mothers can place them in another person's care.

If this bill were to pass, thousands of innocent souls could be saved. Thousands of innocent children could be given the chance to live and the chance to be loved. They will be given an opportunity, which is more than they would have ever been given considering the alternatives.

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In the past few years, the media has covered the stories of newborns being abandoned in dumpsters by mothers unwilling or unable to raise the child. The government is now proposing a law to make it legal for mothers to abandon their babies at the doors of adoption agencies.

But the whole idea of making it legal for mothers to abandon their newborn babies is completely ludicrous.

Responsibility. A new law of this nature will allow new mothers to abandon not only their children but their responsibility to their children as well.

Yes, there can be amendments to the bills themselves to take care of this minor loophole, but what is stopping these mothers from lying? And if the government requires proof that the mother is unable to properly care for the child, what is stopping those mothers who are unwilling to care for their child from chucking the kid in the trash can? Obviously not their conscience, as demonstrated by previous acts of child-chucking.

These mothers that claim to have morals, speaking out against abortion and claiming that it kills human beings, are living behind a sham.

What makes abandonment any better than killing a child either by method of trash can or abortion? Nothing, because a mother abandoning her newborn at the doorsteps of an adoption facility, in essence, commits the same act as if she abandons it in the dumpster. The child is dead to her and does not exist.

Is society willing and able to take responsibility for these forsaken children? With adoption agencies already crowded, how are the people of this country going to take care of children that irresponsible mothers do not want?

Who is to say that these mothers that are willing to abandon their child, their blood, are not willing to do it again? This law will create an easy out for those mothers not taking responsibility for their children. And who is to say that a mother who abandons one child will not abandon another?

Some of the mothers who abandon their babies are drug addicts who are unable to think for themselves. These mothers have so-called "crack babies," whose lives are impared by their mothers' drug addiction while they were in the womb. By creating any easier way for drug-addicted mothers to abandon their sickly babies, we are allowing them to ignore the consequences of their actions and almost inviting them to do drugs the next time they get pregnant. After all, they won't have to deal with the emotional anguish and medical bills that come as a result of irresponsible drug use during a pregnancy.

It is sad when teenage girls have children, but a sympathetic society is a weak one. If we accept responsibility for every young girl's mistake in this nation, we accept responsibility for our future going down the tube.

If this bill were to pass, millions of taxpayers will march the streets of our capital in protest. Women that have unprotected sex and risk the chance of receiving sexually transmitted diseases should realize that they also risk bringing another life into the world. It is the mother's responsibility to care for a child that they give birth to, not society's.