Letters to the Editor
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It's a healthcare issue, stupid
This is a health care issue, not an opportunity to send a moral message. Women, even very young women, need adequate time to recover after childbirth and the newborn needs constant care to ensure optimal health, period. If the Denver school system allows its students excused medical absences for other reasons, then it should be required to do so for its postpartum students as well. To deny medical leave to these students is gender-based discrimination. If the school system wants to get into the business of puritanical morality legislation, then it should conduct DNA testing to determine the identity of the father and ensure that both parents are punished equally. If the male parent is a fellow student, he should be suspended for an amount of time equal to the female parent's absence. If the male parent is an older male, then he should be required take an unpaid leave of absence from his job equal to the new mother's absence. How the school system will enforce the latter I do not know, but it will probably require a hefty amount of taxpayer money and the cooperation of local law enforcement as well. Still though, small price to pay for the return of the country to the days of the Salem Witch Trials.