Earlier this month, teenage mother Lachelle Anderson was charged in Columbus with the murder of her newborn child. In August, Brooke Skylar Richardson, an 18-year-old in Lebanon, Ohio, was charged with the same crime. And in July, Mubashra Udin, a 19-year-old Chicago woman, was convicted of murdering her newborn because she feared her parents’ disapproval.
Only one of these three women have been determined guilty by our courts. But the fact we, as a society, can even fathom a teenage mother murdering her child demonstrates a sad acceptance of how trapped many young people feel when dealing with the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy.
Our society looks at a mother like Kayla Stewart, who pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter in connection with her newborn’s death in Maine earlier this year, and sees a heartless killer. But I see a young, terrified girl who wasn't presented ALL her options when she discovered she was pregnant.
Our unjust society is focused on saving the life of the unborn child. But what about the quality of life for the pregnant person? What programs failed them to get them to this place?
Many pregnant people forced to these extremes are never fully aware of their options. They don’t understand the difference between open and closed adoption.Often, they can’t afford an abortion, or are too late in the pregnancy to terminate. If Mubashra or Kayla knew she had choices, maybe her child could be living safely in an adoptive home or with a friend or relative. Maybe she could have been wrapped in a support system that allowed her to parent well. But that's not what happened.
In a perfect world, these stories wouldn’t exist. A person who commits this crime is a person who didn’t know they had options. Being pro-life and pro-choice means caring for the quality of life of the pregnant person with support, non-judgement and all options.
Molly Rampe Thomas
CEO and founder, Choice Network Adoptions
