Mad Logic

  
Naomi @ 3weeks

Tonight Tyler and I happened to be watching something on the news. A 15-yr-old girl secretly had a baby and then ended up causing the baby's death. The news report was saying that good was coming out of this case because there is now a program in place for young women to take their babies, no questions asked, to emergency rooms, fire departments, etc. Any place that has this certain sign in the window. Of course adoption would be best they said, but taking a baby to a 'safe' place is far better then any other alternative.
I was quietly thinking this was a good thing, since this problem exists. I'm glad a desperate girl who feels she can't tell anyone has an option like that. I was surprised at the numbers that they showed on how many babies are abandoned. So many, many babies are abandoned in hospitals every year and about 100 or so are abandoned in public places which is up significantly from previous years.
At the end of the piece they said that the young girl was serving a prison sentence for the death of her baby.
At this point Tyler said to me in a surprised tone, "She has to go to jail for killing her baby???"
I was a little shocked at his seeming callouseness.
"Of course she has to go to jail, " I said, "it's murder." Thinking to myself, where have I gone wrong?
Then he said, " But what about abortions? They don't have to go to jail for that?"
"Ohhhh."
In his 11-yr-old mind, still clear and unsullied by the mad logic of this world we live in, it made no sense that this young girl would have to go to jail for doing the same thing that is legal otherwise.
Wow, it really sent me reeling. I don't really know what to think.