PREGNANT AT 18: BLOG #2091; JUN 30,2017

THE MESSAGE:

The New York Times published an article in May of this year. 

Maddi Runkles  achieved a 4.0 (90 -100%) average at Heritage Academy, a small private Christian school somewhere in Maryland.     She played on the school soccer team and served as president of the student council. Students at the school  take daily Bible classes. Maddi is an all round model student. Her deportment and example deserve  to be praised and rewarded by school officials, Correct? 

Hold on Jose´! There is a hitch. Her 'Christian'  school has ruled that she be excluded from the formal graduation ceremonies this year because she is pregnant. They added more insult  by removing her from the student council. One option, considered for Ms. Runkles, was that she finish the school year at home. She underwent a two-day suspension as the Heritage School Board wrestled with her fate.

How did the family react? They decided to seek help from Students for Life. The anti-abortion group took her to a recent rally in Washington and argue that she should be lauded, not punished, for her decision to keep her baby.

THE BLURB:

Kristan Hawkins, the Students for Life president tried unsuccessfully to persuade the administrator of Heritage Academy to reverse the decisions.

“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, declined to discuss the issue surrounding 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 decision about which much prayer and discussion had already taken place.”

Brad Wilcox is a sociologist at the University of Virginia, and director of the National Marriage Project, that conducts research on marriage and families.

He believes that Ms. Runkles’s story sheds light on a delicate issue: how Christian schools, which advocate abstinence until marriage, treat pregnant teenagers.  Wilcox believes that today's youth face two competing values. Abstinence  and the conviction  to do whatever is necessary to honour life.

Rick Kempton, chairman of the board of the Association of Christian Schools International said,

"Navigating that balance is exceedingly difficult for Christian educators, and schools respond in various ways."

Mr. Kempton  believes Maddi is making the right choice to keep her baby. But goes on to acknowledge the danger in   creating a celebratory example for other young ladies.  

Scott Runkles, Maddi's father, was chairman of the Heritage Board. He recused himself from the decisions involving his daughter.  

Ultimately he quit the board in anger over how she was treated.

"Typically, when somebody breaks a rule, you punish them at the time they break the rule. That way, the punishment is behind them and they’re moving forward with a clean slate," he said. "With Maddi, her punishment was set four months out. It’s ruined her senior year." "There were some members of the staff and board that support Maddi's quest to participate in graduation."

Jessica Klick,  the athletic director at Heritage Academy,  has been serving as a mentor to Ms. Runkles. Klick calls the child “a blessing,” but declined to discuss the baby’s father, except to say that they do not plan to marry, and that he does not attend Heritage Academy.

Maddi Runkles knew she would face punishment, “ I did break the school code.” When Mr. Hobbs decided to announce her pregnancy to her older classmates, she said, she told him that she would announce it herself. She did so during an emotional session in the school auditorium. 

“I told on myself,” she said. “I asked for forgiveness. I asked for help. Some pro-life people are against the killing of unborn babies, but they won’t speak out in support of the girl who chooses to keep her baby. Honestly, that makes me feel like maybe the abortion would have been better. Then they would have just forgiven me, rather than deal with this visible consequence."

THE QUESTION:

What would Jesus do?

THE LAUREL:

Awarded to the Benevola United Methodist Church in Boonsboro.

Dressed in her white cap and gown, 18-year-old Maddi Runkles was awarded her diploma Saturday morning, not at the Hagerstown-area Christian school that barred her from participating in the commencement because she is pregnant, but from the Benevola United Methodist Church in Boonsboro.

Some 140 friends and family came to support the teenager during the hour-long graduation ceremony. The event was steeped in religious prayer and music that served to drive home the message that God is the driving force behind everything, including Maddi’s pregnancy.

THE QUOTE:

"Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle."

Bob Hope

THE CLIP: