And the Loser Is . . . Individual Liberty, Teen Says

If Jamie Schaible had decided to have an abortion instead of her baby, she might be the reigning Miss San Marcos today, and perhaps would have ascended to Fairest of the Fair, ruling over the Del Mar Fair next June.

The willowy 17-year-old San Marcos beauty has all the right statistics: tall (5-foot-9), red hair, hazel eyes and the proper measurements.

Miss San Marcos contest director Charlotte Presley denied Schaible’s entry into the local pageant, which was decided last Sunday, noting that the contest rules ruled her out.

Contestants must have never been married, must not have children and must be of good moral character. Schaible has a 3-month-old son, Anthony James, whom she wouldn’t trade for a dozen titles or crowns. But she doesn’t think she should have to make that choice.

“If I had had an abortion, I would have been eligible,” she pointed out. “If I can’t be a contestant because I have a baby, then they are condoning abortion.”

Schaible sat down after her rejection and wrote a letter that has sent shivers of concern up and down the pageant network, all the way from little San Marcos’ city-sponsored pageant to Miss USA Inc.

“If I am not allowed to compete next year, I plan to sue them,” the Twin Oaks High School senior said, although she is not quite sure who “them” is.

Fairest of the Fair pageant director Fran Scarborough said such a case has never come up in her 13 years with the pageant and that the restriction against single mothers “has never been questioned.”

“Every pageant system goes by substantially the same rules,” she said. “We use the same rules so that our girls will qualify for the Miss California USA competition.”

Miss California USA director Carolee Munger confirmed that the statewide pageant rules also would rule Schaible out. Munger can’t remember the issue coming up “in all of my 27 years in the business. Of course, there could have been girls who got pregnant and dropped out without giving it as the reason.”

Miss California USA uses the same eligibility rules that Miss Universe contestants must meet, Munger said, including the ban against single mothers.

“It’s real tough for a young teen-ager to keep up with her schoolwork, her job and still be a good mother,” Munger said. “She would never be able to fulfill her duties if she won.”

“This is a job, a very strenuous job,” said Sara Meza, director of Miss USA Inc. “Our rules are very simple and are designed to protect the contestants and the pageant. There is no intention to be pro-life or pro-choice. There’s no place here for that kind of controversy.”

What Schaible can’t stomach is “everyone trying to make up my mind for me.”

“I want the right to decide whether I can do both,” she said. “A lot of women manage a job and a family and do all right. I don’t think that the pageant officials have the right to say I can’t run my own life.”

In her letter, which went to San Marcos and Del Mar Fair officials, as well as several local newspapers, Schaible declared war on the system and demanded that the rules be changed so that she can enter the Miss San Marcos contest next year.

“If I had chosen to abort my child, I would still be eligible for the pageant,” Schaible wrote. “If this stipulation is intended to automatically disqualify those whom some people believe to have poor moral character, then I suggest each candidate be tested for virginity.”

“We single mothers are fortunate to live in a community that enables us to finish school and succeed in the future with the added responsibility of another human being to care for,” the letter says.

“My parents are behind me 100% and my boyfriend’s family is helping out. I don’t believe that having a baby is a good reason to get married. I have taken modeling classes and I want to show people--my friends, my family, myself--that I can do this. I want the chance to show that single parents are able to do lots of things.”

San Marcos Mayor Lee Thibadeau groaned when he heard of Schaible’s campaign, and is taking the teen-ager’s threats seriously.

“Maybe we just won’t have a Miss San Marcos contest in the future,” he said.