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Remember the incident in Utah a few months ago which involved young three pregnant teens? The young women tied up the director of the “home,” whacked her with a pan and then fled. There was some speculation that the young women wanted to keep their babies, and fled in part for that reason.
This article catches us up on the latest developments in the panwhacking case. “Pan-whacking,” – there is something in my Southern soul that loves that term!
One of the home’s directors stated that they had good success in sending young women back to the families like they “were before,” or words to that effect. “Like they were before,” would mean without babies, I imagine. There was mention that “education” about adoption was offered to the young women. I think most of us probably have a serious idea as to what that means. If you really do not know, find a birth mother from the sixties and I guarantee, she will be able to explain it.
Of the three young women, two have turned themselves in to the law or been captured. One is still “on the loose.” Although I do not condone violent behavior such as pan-whacking and tying someone up, I have the utmost sympathy for the young women. Being sent away to a home for wayward pregnant girls buried in the depths of Utah sounds grim to me.
Want to hear how the general public felt moved to comment on this topic? Read the comments that followed this story. Compassion and understanding are totally absent. I was stunned to see how little of either there seemed to be. Guess I should not have been surprised, but I was. I thought instead of nearly everyone agreeing to crucify these young women, there would be some compassion.
Yet, some people probably thought these young ladies deserved to have their babies taken away from them before the infamous pan-whacking. Violence only sealed their fates. Although I imagine just sending them to the “maternity home” to be trained in adoption probably had already done that.
Funny isn’t it, how a pregnant teen is still considered worthy of punishment? I wonder how many people believe that it is a crime for a young woman to shame her family in that way? And, that to atone for her act of defiance, her child must be sacrificed? Sounds like from the reader comments, quite a few people agree that the young women deserve anything they get.
As for the directors of the home, has it occurred to anyone else that something might have been seriously awry for those young women to have felt compelled to take action as they did? After this incident, the couple who ran this home vowed to close the home. Hmmmm…
More about the pan-whacking:
Jan, ‘her child must be sacrificed’, wow, I didn’t realize that us evil adopters were also child doer-inners. Gosh, I don’t know how to tell my boys that they have been sacrificed. Did you come on just a tad strong?
Being serious, those women should not be harranged into adoption. That is worng. Running away is appropriate. A fair number of us evil adopters teach our kids that physical violence is never justified or OK. I have heartburn with the idea that pan-wacking these wierdos is justified. Morally, I am with you, these ladies shouldn’t have been put in such an awful situation. John
What me, John, come on too strong? Hmmm, it could happen!
Your boys, as I recall, came from abusive homes – a totally different situation. I consider babies are sacrificed when certain family members want them gone to punish unmarried mothers and/or to save the family name.
I honestly do not think of adoptive parents as “evil adopters”. I do not like what some of them do, but in general, I think most adoptive parents are decent people. In fact, I never use the word adopters because it offends some adoptive parents. A few birth parents use it for that very reason.
I did not and do not condone pan-whacking or other violence. However, I have serious issues with pressuring anyone into placing babies.
My heart goes out to each and every one of these girls and I applaud them for taking a stand against something which has got to be stopped! First and foremost the natural family should be kept together at all costs. Only when all possiblities have been exhausted should anyone consider adoption!!! My prayers are with them. Just my two cents.