Tag Archives: privacy

Pregnancy and Minors’ Right to Privacy

Pregnancy Notification Policy Alarms Some Health Experts

“A revised regulation that directs Howard County school officials to notify parents when students reveal they are pregnant has drawn criticism from health experts who say it violates a young woman’s right to privacy and jeopardizes health care.”

My two cents? Children are guaranteed no right to privacy with regard to their parents or legal guardians. Parental rights trump the personal privacy rights of children. Here’s where things get ugly, though:

“Under Howard’s regulations, approved last month by the Board of Education, any school employee who learns that a student is or might be pregnant is to notify the school counselor or nurse. If the pregnancy is confirmed and the parents don’t know, the counselor or nurse helps the student tell them.”

Public school employees, as representatives of the federal and state governments, have no right to invade a child’s privacy like that. If they must tell anyone, they should tell the parents – directly.

Faux News Advertising Ron Paul?

If I weren’t already a Ron Paul supporter, this article (at Faux News!) would likely have made me one. It reads like a greatest hits compilation of Dr. Paul’s policy ideas.

Foreign Policy, Recession-Proofing the U.S. Dominate GOP Debate in South Carolina

“The Republican candidates returned to their respective outposts on the campaign trail Friday, hours after appearing in a vigorous debate that focused on national security and America’s role in the world. The conversation began when the candidates evaluated the U.S. response during a recent incident in the Strait of Hormuz between a U.S. Navy ship and five Iranian speed boats. Five of the six candidates on stage at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in South Carolina applauded the commanding officers for responding with restraint when they did not fire on the speed boats even though a radio call claimed the U.S. ship was going to explode in minutes. Of the six candidates, only Ron Paul said he thought the incident was being blown out of proportion.

‘Let’s put it in perspective. We have five small speedboats attacking the U.S. Navy with a Destroyer? They could take care of those speedboats in about five seconds. And here we’re ready to start World War III over this? … You know there are people in this administration and in Washington, D.C., that are looking for the chance’ to bomb Iran, the 10-term Texas congressman said.”

REAL ID = Real Mistake

Stop REAL ID! Submit comments to the Dept. of Homeland Security by May 8th!

  • A broad coalition of organizations across the United States is urging the public to submit comments rejecting the illegal national identification system created under the Department of Homeland Security’s REAL ID program.
  • Five states and several members of Congress have rejected the scheme, which creates a massive national ID system without adequate security or privacy safeguards, which makes it more difficult and costly for people to get licenses, and which makes it easier for identity thieves to access the personal data of 245 million license and cardholders nationwide.
  • To take action and submit comments against this fundamentally flawed national ID system, click here! Comments are due by 5pm EST on May 8, 2007.

Reflection on Gonzales v. Carhart (the recent Ruling on the Partial Birth Abortion Ban)

Judicial Life Potentially Enters the Womb
550 U.S. ___ (2007)

On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States decided, 5 to 4, in Gonzales v. Carhart (Carhart) that the Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003 (Act) was constitutional in view of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (PP), and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (Roe). The Act banned the abortion procedure identified as “intact D&E” but kept legal the “standard D&E” procedure Continue reading

Pro-Family Atheist

Atheist Peter Wall is afraid that something like “Brave New World” is on the horizon.

“…I can…see the seeds of legal arguments that may give traction to the idea of removing reproduction from the hands of individuals…If both the mother and the father, both of whom are still required to contribute gametes for successful reproduction,…have no incentive or desire to take responsibility for the fruits of their reproduction, the argument only strengthens that this function be taken from them. It will get even stronger as the universal pre-school movement progresses and the two eventually meet up and create a continuous, state-mandated and state-controlled child-production facility. (I know that sounds crazy, but just keep watching. The historical trend has been going for over 150 years now; we’re closer to the end than the beginning.)”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not used to support for traditional families coming from atheists.