Nothing new here. We’ve heard it before, and nobody should be shocked. But the video is definitely worth watching.

What really, really bothers me is that the nurse, obviously, thinks she’s being compassionate. You can hear it in her voice. She really wants to help this little girl whose life would be seriously affected by this pregnancy.

But she has all the logic of a teenager: if I’m pregnant, I’ll be in trouble. If I’m not pregnant, I won’t be in trouble. Therefore, all I have to do is not be pregnant, and I won’t be in trouble.

It really takes someone with maturity (a grown up) to recognize a few things:

1. Pregnant or not, a child having sex needs to be protected from stupid choices.
2. Pregnant or not, a girl of any age needs to be protected from older boys and men who prey on them.
3. Pregnant or not, there is an obvious lack of education regarding how to avoid pregnancy, the natural result of the poor choice to have sex in the first place.
4. Pregnancy is not the end of the world.
5. Pregnancy is not the biggest problem here. Sex at a young age is the problem.

Instead of acting like a grown up and trying to solve the real problem (a child having sex), the nurse acts like a teenage friend who figures if she can get an abortion without her parent’s consent, then all will be well.

True compassion would involve getting a 13 year old girl away from the predator who is destroying the remainder of her childhood. This might have to involve the police and the courts, and certainly vigilance on the part of adults to keep the girl from him. To a teenager, that may seem unfair, but this should be common sense to mature adults. We don’t let 13 year olds get married; we shouldn’t be letting them have sex.

And what rational adult thinks an adult male having sex with a teenager, especially one that young, is okay? I can see some quibbling if the girl were 16 and the “man” were 20. But 13 and 30? Obviously, the nurse’s compassion only goes so far as she can remain blissfully ignorant of the gritty details. The girl isn’t her flesh and blood, and though leaving the girl to flounder in a dysfunctional relationship might prick her conscious a bit, ultimately, her life would remain untouched by any long-term consequences that may arise due to the girl’s pregnancy or abortion or unhealthy sexual relationships.

Thank goodness the girl in the video is not pregnant and not 13. We can pretend that this wouldn’t really happen – doesn’t really happen – routinely at abortion clinics throughout the country. We can also pretend that abortion doesn’t present long-term psychological harm to the girl or woman involved.

Heck, we can pretend that abortion isn’t really happening or that it isn’t really killing babies, too.

But I think it’s time we grow up and act like adults capable of seeing beyond the single problem of an unwanted pregnancy. Should not protecting children be a universal desire?