Most of us know the story of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter,
by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Found guilty of adultery, she is forced not
only to stand public penance on a scaffold for three hours, but must
also illustrate her shame by wearing a red letter “A” on her clothing
for the rest of her life.
From our vantage point of almost 400 years, this story seems almost quaint. An illustration of how far we’ve come when it comes to women’s rights. At worst, it’s a fable about the dangers of Puritan legalism.
For presidential hopeful, Jeb Bush, however, this story is more of a guidebook about how single mothers should be treated. In 1995, Bush wrote a book titled, Profiles in Character, where he argues that public humiliation—like Hester Prynne suffered—can help prevent “out of wedlock” pregnancies.
In 2001, while Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, the state passed a law that forced single mothers to publish their sexual histories in the newspaper before they could give up their children for adoption. Designed to let birthfathers know before an adoption went through, in reality the law acted like a modern day bright red, giant “A” on women’s chests. The law was determined to be unconstitutional in 2003.
And before we start thinking Jeb Bush is the only problem here, let’s examine the treatment of many single mothers by Catholic organizations. Heidi Schlumpf wrote a column for U.S. Catholic about the recent firings of many single moms for failing to be “positive Catholic examples.”
“The poverty rate for families headed by single mothers, at 42 percent, is almost three times the rate for the population as a whole and almost four times that of families headed by married couples,” Schlumpf points out, “So a job, especially a good job, is crucial for a single mom.”
Single pregnant women can lack much of the emotional and financial support network available to married expectant mothers. Discrimination, being fired from their job, or being forced to air their dirty laundry in front of their whole community—these can prove to be insurmountable obstacles to a woman who is already struggling to get by. It is women in these situations who are more likely to feel like termination of their pregnancy is the only available option.
So, who then should be ashamed when a single mom faces all of these impossible situations? It is our responsibility as Catholics to support these women. To make sure they feel safe and supported when they make the difficult decision to either give up their baby for adoption or to parent their child themselves. This is part of being pro-life: We have a responsibility to work for the safety and well-being of both the child and his/her mother. If not—if we instead stand back and judge or condemn the single mothers—maybe we are the ones who deserve to feel ashamed.
Image: The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle, Wikimedia Commons
