Shouldn’t we hold her responsible?
I am of course referring to the mother of the 12 year old girl who recently gave birth to a son after falling pregnant to her 15 year old boyfriend.
I think the morals of this case are self evident; A 12 year old is not sufficiently mature to make decisions about their sexuality, and thus it is incumbent upon the parents to make those decisions for them.
Having said that, it beggars belief that a 12 year old would even consider sleeping with her boyfriend; That fact alone calls into question the moral quality of the mother, who provided such a poor quality role model as to point her young daughter in this direction.
And we should spare a thought for the father, who is is reported to have contacted authorities seeking intervention when he learned his ex partner was allowing this sort of thing to go on. He has been quite resilient in the face of such things, and should be applauded for trying to do the right thing in the first place, and trying to help and support his daughter after the fact;
Perhaps it’s time to look at the law’s regarding such things, and consider if we need to toughen some of them up. Should we not hold the 15 year old responsible for violating such a young girl, and charge him with rape? Should we not hold her mother responsible, and charge her with child abuse and neglect?