How many here have a hidden teen pregnancy in their family?

[Jade Fox]

My family has a least two--teenage girls who disappeared for a few months, and then another family member suddenly had a new baby.

This sort of switcheroo used to be a pretty standard way of dealing with teen pregnancy in families, before legalized abortion and before the stigma of out-of-wedlock birth became greatly reduced. That's why this Palin baby story rings true to me. Similar things have happened many times, just mostly in the past.

[PCIntern]

1. Past is prologue...

and could be the epilogue of McGoo's Campaign...

[donco6]

2. My sister, back in the late 60s.

But Jesus, are they still doing that to kids today?

[eShirl]

5. when you don't believe in abortion, birth control or sex education, probably

[NashVegas]

3. It's Why We Need Verified Facts

Before we go spewing.

IF it's true, she can be held up as an example of the shame and secrecy women have no intention of going back to.

[marylanddem]

4. There were awful places called "maternity homes"

where young women went to hide - and most had their babies taken away. Apparently not so Palin's daughter. But you can bet she will bear the pain of intense psychological shame if this is really a charade for her mother's political benefit.

[Jade Fox]

12. A friend of mine was in one of those places....

She made it sound like nothing so much as a prison for pregnant girls. There was definitely an element of punishment fundamental to the place.

[kiranon]

6. Our adopted dtr born in 2000's birth mom was in just that situation

Christian family trying to hide fact that their dtr was pregnant arranged for her to be gone much of the time. No one uses birth control because that would imply intent to sin. This is one of the reasons why many of the adoptable children are in the Bible belt states and/or from fundamentalist families. When we went to receive our adopted daughter, anti abortion bill boards populated the landscape. Her parents had adopted her first child but they could not adopt the second one. We did. This child is also a special needs child. The "Christian" family that was to adopt her walked out on the birth mom while the birth mom was in labor after they found out the baby had a genetic condition stating that they wanted a "perfect" child. It may be with Gov. Sarah, that an adoption had been planned and the adopting parents walked away when they learned the baby would be a Down Syndrome baby. If they were trying to keep things secret, they could hardly advertise for adoptive parents who wanted to adopt a special needs child. These parents are out there but you need to go through the proper channels to locate them. I do not know which it is - mom or dtr - but the mom took such tremendous risks with her pregnancy - flying, going to a small hospital, not acknowledging the baby until 7 months along - that I suspect it is the dtr's child.

[Jade Fox]

7. Thanks for telling your story.......

it contains much good info. I'm glad your daughter ended up with you!

I agree with your theory about the Palin baby.

[helderheid]

8. Step niece here.

[slackmaster]

9. Yes, my aunt, in about 1926

At age 16 she gave birth to a boy, who was given up for adoption.

My aunt never had any other children. She married an asshole who dodged the draft in World War II by faking a disability, and was poor all of her life.

The baby was never spoken of again until after she died in the late 1980s. All of her siblings knew about it, but they did a very good job of keeping a lid on it.

[meow2u3]

10. I gave up a kid for adoption in '83

but I was 22, and it was in the open. I would never hide it.

My sibs resented me for giving up their nephew, my mom was disappointed for losing her grandson, and I could never raise a kid back then--I was too sick.

[OmahaBlueDog]

11. I had this argument last night with someone who said it no longer happens

I'll just say I've seen it, and leave it there.

[grantcart]

13. me too

[Beaverhausen]

14. But you would think Palin supporting her teen having the baby would go over with the fundies

you know, forgiveness and all that.

I just don't understand why they would want to hide it. It's not the worst thing for a teen to do. The cover-up is.

[vaberella]

23. The MSM can't lose her now. She's in it for the long haul. If this is true, she'll be a hero. n/t

[redqueen]

15. I'm not *that* old. (nt)

[quercus palustris]

16. I went to highschool with a girl who's family pulled this exact same thing.

[Hepburn]

17. Well, not in my family, but a friend of mine when we were in Jr. High...

...in the early 1960s found out that the person she thought was her sister, was her mother and the person she thought was her mother was her grandmother.

She was totally fucked up after finding out the truth of who she was and the truth about her birth. She took it that hiding her birth meant that something was wrong with her...and she set out to prove that she was worthless.

What a sad fucking mess that was.

[Jade Fox]

20. This was a common practice too....

for hiding teen pregnancy. Actor Jack Nicholson was raised thinking his mother was his sister and his grandmother was his mother. I think it screwed him up a bit too. He's a bit of a misogynist who has never married and says he doesn't like to live with women.

[cliffordu]

18. My sister at 13 in 1969.....

Unwed mother's home, adoption...

The girl she gave birth to found her a couple of years ago.

The couple that adopted her turned out to be monsters.

Fundamentalist Monsters.

[javadu]

19. Isn't the mother's age a risk factor for

Down's Syndrome. Specifically, I think that older mothers are at much higher risk than younger one's to have children with DS.

[LisaL]

21. Nope. Never knew anyone who did that.

A friend got pregnant at 15. Nobody pretended it wasn't her baby. She simply married the father of that baby.

[IndianaGreen]

22. How many here oppose abortion in cases of rape or incest?

That's the subtext to Palin's bullshit story about her pregnancy.

[vaberella]

25. I would never. She said even if her daughter was raped. She'd keep the kid. ~sigh~ n/t

[vaberella]

24. I've heard countless stories on it. They're all die hard Catholics, you see. n/t