The Trouble With Teen Pregnancy

The March 14 View article “I Wanted Somebody to Love,” would never make it as a fictional piece. It would be too incredible to consider possible--24,000 babies born to teens in L.A. County in 1990.

This should be a burning issue for liberals concerned with the welfare of the individual and conservatives concerned with the considerable drain on limited public resources that ultimately pay for the consequences.

Is it too scary to begin to think that the conception process may not be an automatic, God-given right? We license cars, dogs and cats. We have high standards for people to meet who want to adopt a child, yet we turn our backs on the issue of who may have a child by natural means.

The criteria should be the same in either case: a demonstrated ability to properly care for and raise a child.

To demand less is a type of societal child abuse. If we can’t prevent the births, we should at least make sure the child is raised in a home where he or she won’t feel compelled to have a child 13 years later.

BILL WOODRUM

Covina