Q: Can a 17 year old keep her baby if she gets pregnant?
A: Of course. It happens all the time. Obviously there's more to this story. The 17 year old has all of the rights of parenthood, just like anybody else. The rights of parenthood do not depend on age. However, justly or not, young people as a class are thought to be less responsible than older people. This prevailing view is based on the dubious premise that older people have learned to be more responsible through their experience. Thus it is more likely that a judge will believe that a 17 year old mother neglected her child or...heaven forbid...abused her child. This makes it somewhat easier for a third person, say a grandparent of the baby, to wrest custody from the 17 year old. Hope this is clear.
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