Mothers Who Kill: Coming to Terms With Modern American Infanticide

plans on their own. Instead, upon discovering that they are pregnant, most girls seek the assistance of a parent, friend, or counselor.279 Equipped with this support, the girls decide to have the baby and either raise the child or give it up for adoption, or they obtain an abortion. As we know, A. did not seek support and did not pursue any of these options. Instead, she shared her secret with someone who was look to males for ratification of the women that they are becoming. Girls negotiate access to the fulfillment of these emotional needs by way of sex. 277 One tragic but unsurprising result of this is that teens between the ages of 15 and 19 suffer not only high rates of unplanned pregnancies, but also the highest rates of sexually-transmitted diseases and the fastest growing rates of new cases of HIV of any age group in the United States. Karen Hein et al., Comparison of HIV+ and HIVAdolescents: Risk Factors and Psychosocial Determinates, 95 PEDRIATRICS 96 (1995); Steven Shelov et al., Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, 95 PEDRIATRICS 298 (1995); Robert M. Siegal et al., The Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Disease in Children and Adolescents, 95 PEDRIATRICS 1090 (1995); James E. Strain, Jacobi Address-Pediatrics: Where Do We Go From Here? , 95 PEDRIATRICS 924 (1995). 27' For a critical evaluation of the mature minor doctrine and the confusion and ambiguity surrounding the law's understanding of adolescent maturity, see Michelle Oberman, Minor Rights and Wrongs, 24 J. LAW MED. & ETHIcs 118 (1996). 279 A substantial proportion of pregnant minors voluntarily consult with a parent regardless of the existence of a notification requirement. See, e.g., Torres et al., Telling Parents: Clinic Policies and Adolescents' Use of Family Planning and Abortion Services, 12 FAM. PLAN. PERSP. 284, 287-88, 290 (1980) (stating that 51% of minors discussed abortion with parents in the absence of a parental consent or notification requirement), cited in Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417, 464-65 (1990) (Marshall, J., concurring in part, concurring in the judgment in part, and dissenting in part). Minors 15 years old or younger are even more likely voluntarily to discuss the abortion decision with their parents. Id. at 290 (finding that 69% of such minors voluntarily discuss abortion with parents), cited in Hodgson, 497 U.S. at 464-65. 2004] HeinOnline -8 DePaul J. Health Care L. 69 2004-2005 DEPAUL JOURNAL OF HEALTH CARE LAW equally ill-equipped to devise a long-term plan.28° A. 's behavior reflected a uniquely short-term calculation wherein the immediate costs associated with acting on any of the alternatives available to her, including seeking the advice of an adult, seemed far higher than the costs of simply postponing any decision. Thus, she found herself paralyzed, and she lived from day-to-day, much as she did before she became pregnant.28' In order to make sense of A. 's short-term calculation, it is important to explore what A. feared would follow from taking action regarding her pregnancy. As noted above, A. feared that her family would abandon her if they found out she was pregnant.1 A. 's family held traditional social, cultural, and religious values regarding teenage sexuality and disapproved of teenage pregnancy as well as abortion.8 Thus, despite the fact that A. lived in a society relatively permissive about sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing by unmarried women, she felt that her pregnancy posed a direct and serious threat to her 284 immediate social network. 280 Recall the Hopfer case, described supra at notes 109 through 128 and accompanying text. In Hopfer, like A. 's case, the defendant told her best friend that she was pregnant. The girlfriend, who ultimately reported Hopfer to the police, testified that Hopfer had told her that she was pregnant several months earlier, but that their conversation never reached the issue of what Hopfer planned to do about the pregnancy. In his article on neonaticide, psychiatrist Phillip Resnick noted that this phenomena occurs among passive, less mature girls: [wiomen who seek abortions are activists who recognize reality early and promptly attack the danger. In contrast, women who commit neonaticide often deny that they are pregnant or assume that the child will be stillborn. No advance preparations are made either for the care or the killing of the infant. Resnick, supra note 83, at 1416. 282 See supra note 263 and accompanying text (regarding A.'s conversations with her mother and other family members about out-of-wedlock births). 283 In a recent article, Latina writer Sandra Cisneros sheds light on the manner in which such a background might shape a girl's attitude toward her body and her incipient sexuality: I am overwhelmed by the silence regarding Latinas and our bodies. If I, as a graduate student, was shy about talking to anyone about my body and sex, imagine how difficult it must be for a young girl in middle school or high school, living in a home with . no information other than misinformation from the girlfriends and the boyfriend. So much guilt, so much silence, and such a yearning to be loved; no wonder young women find themselves having sex while they are still children, having sex without sexual protection, too ashamed to confide their feelings and fears to anyone. Sandra Cisneros, Guadalupe the Sex Goddess, Ms., July/August 1996, 43, 44-45. 284 There are several reasons for believing that A. 's fear and her decision to avoid making a decision are frighteningly common tendencies among adolescents. Certainly, we know that teens commonly fear the repercussions that might follow should their parents find out that they are sexually active. It is largely in response to the negative consequences that might follow from this fear that the law facilitates minors' access to family planning, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and abortion. See Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. [Vol.8. 1:3 HeinOnline -8 DePaul J. Health Care L. 7