How Is It Done?

It’s been a while since I’ve stood on my legal/ethical/moral soapbox, but a couple of cases I’ve processed recently have brought the issue back to the forefront—at least in my mind. Two females (you’ll see in a minute why I refrain from calling them “girls” or “women”) under the age of eighteen have given birth and applied for child support—the sequence in our office is to first establish paternity if it already isn’t, then to establish an obligation which conforms to state law, and finally to enforce the order for support once it is obtained. The snag, however, is that these females are legally regarded as minors, and as such they cannot open a case in our office. They must instead find a parent or guardian who will apply for them.

Now this is where, at least in my mind, the snag in the system shows up. If a female/girl/woman has the ability to conceive and give birth to a child, why is she then not able to file her own child support case? The answer that this office gives is because it is illegal. But is such an answer ethical? Is it moral? My feeling is that the law is unethical because it places an additional hardship on a young female that already has her hands full with the responsibility of a new life. It might actually prove a risk to the young female’s welfare to have to involve an “adult” who might react immaturely, perhaps even violently, upon learning of the minor’s situation. This, to me, is a good example of how something can be unethical even when it is legal.

The morality issue is, at least in my mind, much more abstract. The question of morality was raised at the moment of coitus, and it is certainly couched in the complex context of whether or not the couple understood what they were doing and why. Referring back to one of my fundamental definitions of “sin” as “being without knowledge”, a couple who engages in sex without knowing what they are doing and why, including the possible consequence of creating a new life, is sinning and therefore engaging in immoral activity. This, to me, serves as an excellent example of how considering the morality of something in the first places makes moot the point of ethicality or legality.

Alas, I’m preaching to the choir and there will continue to be young females who have given birth—not knowing, in many instances, who the father even is—and will not be afforded the right to seek child support of their own accord. I welcome any input as to how we better communicate the rewarding necessity of moral living.