At 13, she was ruined

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/26/988771/-At-13,-She-Was-Ruined

I agreed with this article until they brought abortion into the picture (yeah, I know, big shock huh?).

I won't claim to know about Appalachian life or subculture. I'm pretty sheltered in my liberal city/suburban lifestyle and perhaps it's better that I am. I can't fathom of a world where teenage girls are routinely married off to men twice their age or more--and yes, I realize it's a common occurrence in many parts of the world even to this day.

A 13 year old is a child. A 30-something man is an adult. This *should* be red flag #1.

Said child is pregnant by 14 and increasingly isolated from her friends and schoolmates by both the adult man and the subculture around her. She herself is the child of a single mother, so the adult male marries her. She should be *thrilled*, right? After all, he's doing the "right thing" (never mind that the real "right thing" would have been to leave her alone in the first place).

Her husband ignored her requests for help when stated she wasn't feeling well (what would HE know of teenage pregnancy, I wonder), until it was too late and he came home to find her unconscious on the floor, severely brain-damaged from a stroke. The baby didn't make it.

No one blamed her husband for anything. Not even neglect, since now this poor girl would be brain damaged for life and never able to care for herself.

From the article: It's doubtful that she was ever given the option of having an abortion, or giving the baby up for adoption, or even raising the child on her own.

Abortion is not the answer. Proper healthcare (which I doubt this girl ever received) would have saved both her and her baby.