Ignorance

Yeterday, I caught a little bit of Glenn Beck on the way to the library. Oh, boy, did that get me fired up. I understand what he was talking about a little better now that I know what Barack Obama said, but he went on to discuss how teenagers keeping their unplanned babies rather than giving them up is selfish. He said babies are a blessing so they should be given away to bless a married couple who can't have children, etc.


This is quoted from his transcripts:

"Now we've gotten pregnant and we've decided to wreck that child's chances by having them raised by a 12-year-old or a 15-year-old or a 16-year-old. No. So the family believes in not abortion but adoption because a baby is not a punishment. A baby is a blessing. Not to you. It's a natural consequence of having sex. But that baby is a blessing to somebody, and somebody will bless that baby for your mistake, period.
Now, which, which role is going to help the child more? A father and mother that understand and are not going to condemn their child to a life of hell because they made a mistake, a gigantic significant one, maybe hopefully the biggest one they will ever make in their life, one that will sit down and teach them that there are consequences to mistakes, and the bigger the mistake, the bigger the consequence and the more it's going to hurt. "You have this baby and you give it up, it's going to hurt for a very long time." How do I know it? Because the teenager is the reason I have my son Raphe. My son we prayed for for years trying to -- oh, yeah, she had her legs up and we were taking her temperature and everything else. It was ugly. Couldn't get pregnant, couldn't get pregnant, couldn't even get chlamydia. And a teenager made a mistake, and her mother was smart enough to say, you can't, you can't destroy this child's life, and she was smart enough to say, "I can't have an abortion, I can't kill this child" and so she did the hardest thing she probably will ever do. She allowed that baby to be blessed by others and allowed that baby to bless others."


Seriously?! I am all for adoption and against abortion. Completely! But as someone who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl 2 1/2 months before I turned 18, I can tell you that not every child born to a teenager is comdemned to a life of hell. Ugh, it just gets me so fired up. I may have began motherhood as a teenager, but I think I have an extremely wonderful little person to show for it. Is it always the best situation? Of course not. Are some teenage parents completely unfit to raise children? Of course, but so are many parents in their 30's or even 40's. I don't think it's right to fit everyone into a neat little box that's one-size-fits-all, and basically say that absolutely no teenager should keep their baby.

I could seriously go on about this for days, so I will try to cut it down. I have been on the other side, as well. Or, I should say, I am right now. After two years of trying for baby #3, we are still waiting. Would I love it if a teenager who knows she can't take care of a baby, but refuses to take its life, gave her child up so that we could be blessed? Most definitely. If a girl is certain she's not ready/prepared/fit to be a mother she should give that baby to a family who will praise God for that gift. But if she knows in her heart she can do it, then she should.

My sweet girl has been loved whole-heartedly by everyone close to her since before she was born. She was unplanned by me, but not by God. I have never considered her a mistake because God doesn't make mistakes. He planned her birth and He planned her to be mine, not some other family's. She wasn't "condemned to a life of Hell" and I haven't "destroyed her life".
She has a mommy and daddy who love her, homeschool her, and teach her to love Jesus. I'm sorry Mr. Beck doesn't know more teenage mothers like me. I don't think I did half bad. ;)