Saturday, March 07, 2009

School's Out Forever (by Phila)

In America, anti-government conservatives continue to insist on the moral and practical effectiveness of state-administered abstinence education. In Sierra Leone, local authorities have taken the logical next step:
New local laws being passed by village chiefs in northern Sierra Leone decree when a school girl is impregnated by a male student, both must drop out of school, causing concern among child protection experts....

The laws are designed to build stigma around teenage pregnancy and dissuade girls from becoming pregnant, according to Maud Droogleever Fortuyn, child protection director at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Sierra Leone.
So not only do you end up with uneducated teenaged parents, by law, but the parents of male children can formally blame the girl for ruining the boy's prospects; after all, she's the one who failed to be "dissuaded" by the legal consequences.

Unless the boy is lucky enough to avoid being recognized as the father, somehow:
Hannah, 16, from Makeni...said her uncle, who was paying her school fees, withdrew his support when she became pregnant. “Life is not simple for me now. I stay at home alone to care of my baby. My father is very angry with me.”

Hannah told IRIN the child’s father – a student at a different school - has denied responsibility.
Enforced ignorance as a punishment for sex, in a country where contraceptive use is practically nonexistent...what's not to like?

Look for it in the 2012 GOP platform.