Letter to the editor

There was an article in the local paper this week that upset me. If you have a thick stomach you can read it HERE. I was sick to think that a pregnant girl would do such a thing, but I was also upset because I thought the least the paper could do was insert just a little box about adoption or at least Utah's Safe Haven Law. So after much stewing I decided that I didn't care what others thought, I was not going to be silent over this issue. Here is the letter I sent to the two local, weekly papers.

Dear Editor,
Here is a letter I would like to submit for next weeks paper in the letters to the editor section of the paper. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at sourbonk@yahoo.com or call my cell phone at 733-0476. I also hope the paper could do an editorial on adoption options or maybe even just do a highlight on the Utah Safe Haven Law. Maybe if people were better educated, the incident with the pregnant teen would have never happened.
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Do some people have no regard for life? I was shocked and appalled to hear about the teen who asked a stranger to help her find a way to abort her baby.

I sometimes feel like people can be so closed minded when it comes to an unwanted pregnancy. This girl was almost done with her pregnancy. Why, after 7 months, would she take such drastic measures to help clear away what she felt was a problem in her life.

As someone who suffers from infertility this is especially troubling to me. Didn't she realize that someone would love the chance to parent that child and to give it the life it deserves. If she had already gone through 7 months of pregnancy, what was two more months.

There are other options she could have considered if she didn't want to parent the child herself. Adoption is another choice and it is a beautiful choice. I know countless couples like ourselves who would love be parents, but due to medical issues are denied the children they dream about.

I can't understand why people go around acting like they think they are adults and then when the consequences of their actions come, they suddenly do childlike acts, such as thinking that letting a person beat them up will make things better.

Did this young girl know that she could choose a family to place her child with? There are several agencies whose only goal is to help an expectant mother decide what is best for her and her baby. They help the young girls come to terms with the change in their life and discuss all their options. Is a marriage possible? If not, do you want to single parent? And if not, they have hundreds of profiles of families who are looking to adopt.

And if a young girl didn't feel comfortable going to an agency, most churches will provide the same kind of advice and help. The churches aren't there to belittle the person and make them feel bad about what has happened. They want to help these girls overcome the problem and find a solution. They are there to give comfort and support.

There is also another option available to a young mother who decides she isn't ready to parent a child. Utah has a Safe Haven Law. Because of this law, a young girl can take her child to a hospital and leave it with the staff there. They won't ask her who she is and they won't call the police on her. The hospital will make sure the baby receives the care it needs and the state will place the child with a loving family.

I hope the police will do what is right for this baby and I hope the baby won't have any lasting effects of what was done.