For pilots on takeoff, it is important to get right the angle of attack. If the angle is too slim, they will run out of runway and have to abort the flight. If it is too steep, they will stall and crash. For youth, on the verge of adulthood, the angle at which they approach the future will have equally serious consequences. If they retreat when confronted with a crisis, they may never grow up or go anywhere in life. If they are rash at such moments, their lives may turn out to be brutish and short. To successfully rise up into the diminished ranks of responsible adults, they must plot a median course between the baseline of reason and the vertical aim of passion.

I was reminded of this last month when a couple in their early twenties came in for consultation about their unplanned pregnancy. Their situation was, of course, complicated by the fact that they were not married and were as yet undecided about their commitment to each other. Since he was planning to go back to college and she was worried about losing her part-time job at the Mall, they thought that an abortion would be the easiest option.

My first task was to give them information about the risks involved in abortion procedures and educate them about fetal development. The young woman winced when she found out that her child already had a heartbeat. Since the young man was concerned not only about commitment but also about costs, I then offered them an overview of the support they would receive if they chose to continue the pregnancy. By their questions, I could tell that they were moving away from the idea of termination, which is, after all, a choice couples make only when they feel they have no choice. Now, as they began to consider how they might raise the child, I spoke with them of their third option, adoption. This is the median course which would allow them to continue moving forward with their own plans without added pressure while allowing the child to have his or her own life in a stable, loving home. In truth, it takes a certain level of maturity and courage to make an adoption plan. And I’m not sure they’re there yet.

One of the particular difficulties such young couples are facing today are the mixed signals they receive from our public educators, especially from our own mayor. By distributing the contraceptive drug “Plan B” to high school teens without their parents’ knowledge or consent, hizzoner has removed the young woman’s last line of defense against an aggressive boyfriend. In such a hormone-fueled romance “Plan B” is quickly promoted to plan A. Having encouraged such reckless behavior, Mayor Bloomberg is now chiding teens to act responsibly through a $400,000 ad campaign that stigmatizes teen pregnancy. In as much as the mayor’s own mandated sex-ed course is more a “how to” manual that all but ignores the value of abstinence, one should wonder who is more irresponsible here. Whether wittingly or not, our public educators now foster a dysfunctional system that produces perpetual adolescents who ever rebel yet ever depend on a government that now serves as a surrogate parent.