Louisiana Charter School Tries to Implement Policy Forcing Girls to Take Pregnancy Tests
There are new concerns about discrimination after a charter school in Louisiana tried to implement a policy forcing girls to take pregnancy tests if teachers suspected that they might be pregnant. The policy would then ban any pregnant teen from attending school.
State education officials have now ordered the school to drop the policy.
Judge Andrew Napolitano weighed in on the case saying that the policy is clearly illegal because it violates one’s right to privacy.
He described the legality of the policy from the student’s perspective saying, “The Supreme Court has said that the right to have children is a fundamental liberty and the government can’t interfere with it, and the government can’t punish you for it. The Supreme Court has also said whether you are pregnant or not is a matter for determination between you and your doctor and you don’t have to tell anyone that you are pregnant.”
Napolitano said, “The school has the right to administer its educational mission without undue interference from something a student is doing, so in order for the school to punish the student for being pregnant, the school would have to demonstrate that mere pregnancy alone ... materially interferes with the school’s ability to deliver its educational product.” This would be difficult for the school to do, Napolitano argued.
