Avoiding or Minimizing the Consequences...

...ALWAYS results in promoting or subsidizing the choices made, which in effect means you are creating INCENTIVES to PROMOTE the behavior.

Should the request made in the following article be granted, it's a virtual certainty that what we will see is MORE of the undesirable behavior, teen pregnancies, in this Denver, Colorado school district.

Birth Leave Sought for GIRLS

Kayla Lewis (right), a senior at East High School (Denver, Colorado), asked school-board members last month to establish maternity leave for students who are new mothers.

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Two counselors from East High School approached the school board last month, saying the policy at their school is unfair and inconsiderate because it forces new moms to return to school the day after being discharged from the hospital or face being charged with unexcused absences.

"My initial reaction is if we are punishing girls like that, that is unacceptable," said Nicole Head, one of the counselors who brought the matter to the school board last month. "We've got to do something."

This is not "punishing" girls. This is teaching them that there are real world consequences for their behavior, and that doing things like getting pregnant before they are married and able to care for the RESPONSIBILITY of a new life is not going to be easy.

East High School administrators could not be reached for comment over the winter break, but district officials say they are reviewing the policy on absences to make it "friendlier" to new moms, said DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez.

Friendlier? FRIENDLIER?!?! It should be as UNFRIENDLY AS POSSIBLE to unwed Teen mothers! Like how about EXPULSION!

The issue really is a black and white proposition. When you subsidize unemployment -- i.e. welfare -- you get more unemployment! When you subsidize young teens by "helping" to take away the hardships that teen pregnancies cause, you will get more of it! More kids born into the vicious cycle of poverty and fatherless households.

When other teenage girls see their classmates get pregnant, and see how the system bends over backwards to make things easier for them, they learn the intuitive lesson of unintended consequences: getting pregnant while you are still in high school is not that bad...after all, everyone will help you deal with the trouble.

This is exactly the wrong approach that needs to be taken. Young girls need to see that getting pregnant while they are still in high school is a huge problem that will make their life very difficult, so they had better be careful to avoid it in the first place.