School Shames Pregnant Teen In Total 1950s Move

Women have come a long way since the 50s, though you’d never know it if you stepped foot in Wingate Elementary School in New Mexico. That’s where 15-year-old Shantelle Hicks was publicly humiliated for being pregnant. Actually, when school officials first learned their student was with child, they kicked her out (because, you know, it’s 1952). But after receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they figured they’d let her back in. And that’s when they decided it would be a good idea to have Hicks stand up during a school assembly as staff announced her pregnancy.

Yup, this really happened. And it’s despicable! Hicks who is now one year older and mom to a baby girl is suing the school and seeking punitive damages with help from the ACLU. She alleges the school violated her constitutional rights after she was forced to leave because she’d be a “bad example” to other students.

“It was so embarrassing to have all the other kids staring at me as I walked into the gymnasium,” Hicks said in a statement. “I didn’t want the whole school to know I was pregnant because it’s not their business, and it wasn’t right for my teachers to single me out.”

The truth is, Hicks would have eventually begun to show and her news would not have been so secret. But that does not give anyone the right to publicly shame her for being pregnant. It’s a horrible thing to do! And yes, teen pregnancy is a huge issue, but that still doesn’t justify singling out this poor girl in front of her classmates.

(Photo: kob.com)