Pregnant at 18. Hailed by Abortion Foes. Punished by Christian School.

[camille70]

BOONSBORO, Md. — Maddi Runkles has never been a disciplinary problem.

She has a 4.0 average at Heritage Academy, the small private Christian school she attends; played on the soccer team; and served as president of the student council. But when her fellow seniors don blue caps and gowns at graduation early next month, Ms. Runkles, 18, will not be among them.

The reason? She is pregnant.

The decision by school officials to bar Ms. Runkles from “walking” at graduation — and to remove her from her student council position — would have remained private, but for her family’s decision to seek help from Students for Life. The anti-abortion group, which took her to a recent rally in Washington, argues that she should be lauded, not punished, for her decision to keep her baby.

“She made the courageous decision to choose life, and she definitely should not be shamed,” said Kristan Hawkins, the Students for Life president, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade the administrator of Heritage Academy to reverse the decision. “There has got to be a way to treat a young woman who becomes pregnant in a graceful and loving way.”

David Hobbs, the administrator at Heritage Academy, a nondenominational independent school in Hagerstown, Md., where students take daily Bible classes, declined to discuss Ms. Runkles. In a written statement issued on behalf of the school’s board of directors, he said she would earn a diploma, and called her pregnancy “an internal issue about which much prayer and discussion has taken place.”

Ms. Runkles’s story sheds light on a delicate issue: how Christian schools, which advocate abstinence until marriage, treat pregnant teenagers.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

 

[SeventyOne]

The student pledge for the school that she would have had to sign states, "This application
extends to my actions, such as protecting my body by abstaining from sexual immorality
and from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs."

It's also in their handbook, "We believe that the Bible teaches that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of the marriage commitment between a man and a woman"

It sucks she's in this situation, but it's a situation she made herself. Abortion or school were not the only options here. Keeping the legs shut was another option available. A good life lesson for her, choices have consequences. Welcome to adulthood.

Edit: This is from the parents pledge as part of the application process, "We pledge that, if, for any reason, our child does not respond favorably to the school, we will not try to change the school to fit their individual needs, but will quietly withdraw him/her."

Sounds like for the article that her father broke his pledge in this area as well.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Many in the church these days are so afraid of women having an abortion that they will treat them as heroes simply for not having one. The notion that you can hold the bar higher than that seems to be a foreign concept to them.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

I agree with the Students for Life, preventing the abortion is the important thing and those who chose life shouldn't be punished.

 

[PloverWing]

Ms. Runkles’s story sheds light on a delicate issue: how Christian schools, which advocate abstinence until marriage, treat pregnant teenagers.

A woman like Ms. Runkles faces tremendous social pressure to get a quiet abortion and never tell anyone what happened, and the social pressure is coming from her church and school. If Christians are serious about wanting to reduce the number of abortions, we have to stop shaming single mothers.

 

[miamited]

Hi camille,

You're right, it's a terrible situation for a student with such a bright future to find themselves in. However, no one twisted anyone's arm for her to go to that school and the school had posted rules that anyone reading them would know extend to personal behavior even outside of school and specifically mentions sexual issues.

So, what's the message if the school can't enforce its own rules? Is it because she seems to be a bright student that she shouldn't be held to the rules of her school? I agree that she should be lauded for not having an abortion. However, that has nothing to do with whether or not she should suffer the consequences that were known to her and her family, for her actions of winding up as an unwed mother because of sexual intercourse outside of marriage. I don't honestly understand what the issue is here. She certainly isn't being punished in any way that she wasn't clearly aware could be the expected consequences of her actions.

Why is it that everyone's always happy with the rules until they break them? I agree that the parents should live up to their commitment. Withdraw the child quietly and then work to get the student her diploma after everyone walks. The fact that a student walks or doesn't walk has nothing to do with what they learned or whether or not they will get a job. When my son graduated there were a lot of students who didn't walk, but they still graduated. They got their diplomas and they went out and got a job. As far as I know there wasn't likely a single one of them whose future employer asked them if they walked on graduation day.

So, she doesn't walk and she gets to graduate if she plays in accordance with the school rules. Two years from now she won't even care.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

A woman like Ms. Runkles faces tremendous social pressure to get a quiet abortion and never tell anyone what happened, and the social pressure is coming from her church and school.

Nonsense. Neither her church nor her school ever asked her to have an abortion.

"What happened"? Her pregnancy did not just "happen". It's not "what happened". It's what she did.

 

[Cearbhall]

.

 

[Landon Caeli]

My wife and I attended senior prom together. She was about 6 months pregnant and showing. We've been married for 20 years now with a total of 4 children.

 

[Cearbhall]

It's a disgusting policy. All I can say is, know where you're spending your hard-earned money. Take these institutions at their word, and don't give them a penny if you don't support what they say. Don't assume that the rules are just a formality and that they'll be humane when it comes down to it.

"What happened"? Her pregnancy did not just "happen". It's not "what happened". It's what she did.

Better not let any of the boys walk then, unless they can figure out who the father is. We couldn't risk having God see a fornicator get a diploma.

 

[Landon Caeli]

.

I saw your post before you edited. I agree for the most part about it being about the optics.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I have every reason to believe Jesus would NOT treat this girl as they have. He would have a word with the administration about casting the first stone and let the girl take part in the graduation just liker the rest of the sinners do.

 

[Tanj]

Im an old childfree atheist, so I have a dog nowhere near this fight. However:

called her pregnancy “an internal issue about which much prayer and discussion has taken place.”

Her pregnancy is an internal issue huh? who'd a thunk

Where's the foetus going to gestate, you going to keep it in a box?

 

[Landon Caeli]

The student pledge for the school that she would have had to sign states, "This application
extends to my actions, such as protecting my body by abstaining from sexual immorality
and from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs."

It's also in their handbook, "We believe that the Bible teaches that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of the marriage commitment between a man and a woman"

It sucks she's in this situation, but it's a situation she made herself. Abortion or school were not the only options here. Keeping the legs shut was another option available. A good life lesson for her, choices have consequences. Welcome to adulthood.

Edit: This is from the parents pledge as part of the application process, "We pledge that, if, for any reason, our child does not respond favorably to the school, we will not try to change the school to fit their individual needs, but will quietly withdraw him/her."

Sounds like for the article that her father broke his pledge in this area as well.

True too that the rules are the rules. It's not the end of the world for her -she still gets her diploma and the 4.0 GPA.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Sadly, That's what she gets. Since she didn't sneak off and have a quiet abortion.

 

[Redac]

Good on her for keeping the kid, but actions do have consequences.

 

[Geralt]

not about pregnancy, but by breaking the law. it should in the smallprint agreement when they enrolled in that school which has a mission statement to follow.

 

[Ana the Ist]

BOONSBORO, Md. — Maddi Runkles has never been a disciplinary problem.

She has a 4.0 average at Heritage Academy, the small private Christian school she attends; played on the soccer team; and served as president of the student council. But when her fellow seniors don blue caps and gowns at graduation early next month, Ms. Runkles, 18, will not be among them.

The reason? She is pregnant.

The decision by school officials to bar Ms. Runkles from “walking” at graduation — and to remove her from her student council position — would have remained private, but for her family’s decision to seek help from Students for Life. The anti-abortion group, which took her to a recent rally in Washington, argues that she should be lauded, not punished, for her decision to keep her baby.

“She made the courageous decision to choose life, and she definitely should not be shamed,” said Kristan Hawkins, the Students for Life president, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade the administrator of Heritage Academy to reverse the decision. “There has got to be a way to treat a young woman who becomes pregnant in a graceful and loving way.”

David Hobbs, the administrator at Heritage Academy, a nondenominational independent school in Hagerstown, Md., where students take daily Bible classes, declined to discuss Ms. Runkles. In a written statement issued on behalf of the school’s board of directors, he said she would earn a diploma, and called her pregnancy “an internal issue about which much prayer and discussion has taken place.”

Ms. Runkles’s story sheds light on a delicate issue: how Christian schools, which advocate abstinence until marriage, treat pregnant teenagers.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I find this mildly amusing...

I wonder if her family puts up a similar effort to reduce the shaming of girls who choose abortion? Somehow, I doubt that's the case...which is sad since those girls often face a far greater amount of shaming from the christian community than anything this girl might have faced.

I don't understand this tendency to shame people over sexual issues. It doesn't seem like something Christ would do.

 

[Redac]

I find this mildly amusing...

I wonder if her family puts up a similar effort to reduce the shaming of girls who choose abortion? Somehow, I doubt that's the case...which is sad since those girls often face a far greater amount of shaming from the christian community than anything this girl might have faced.

If you consider abortion to be immoral killing of the unborn, or tantamount to murder, or something like that... yeah, you're going to have a stronger reaction to that than to sex out of wedlock. I wouldn't really expect anything else.

I don't understand this tendency to shame people over sexual issues. It doesn't seem like something Christ would do.

You think Jesus wouldn't rebuke someone for their sin?

 

[Tanj]

I think Jesus would ask those without sexual sin to cast the first stone.