For the first time in my graduate school career, abortion came up. The topic was more about confidentiality and if it should be broken if the adolescent girl is pregnant. It was amazing. Abortion never crossed my mind when I first took a look at the question.

But it was on the minds of my classmates. The conversation went from should the parents be notified if their daughter was pregnant, to parental notification laws in each jurisdiction, pregnancy counseling, and the right to choose. Now, I am not close to too many of my classmates, but from chatter in past classes, I have the impression many of the social work students at CUA are of the mindset of many of the profession. And from the way the discussion was going, I felt that, once again, I was falling into the minority.

Without wanting a full out debate, I mentioned how maybe a 13 year old would not want to have to make that decision on her own. And if for some reason she was led to that decision she should not and could not be alone afterwards. I brought up the medical complications, the emotional aftermath--all of which she would need support to get through. My classmates did not have much faith in the parents. As I was about to respond, another classmate mentioned a family that was suing a clinic for not notifying them as their daughter bled to death. The said they would have wanted to know and then be there to help her. My classmate figured maybe more parents would be like that.

I know there are a lot of parent who cannot seem to put their own pain aside to take care of their children. But I believe there are a lot more who can. As adolescents, of course parents are the enemy. But if they are good parents, instead of adults just trying to be a pal to their kids, they will come though.