I’m obviously delighted and very relieved that Sue Axon today lost her case to force doctors to break confidentiality if a teenager wants to have an abortion or even just seek contraception advice.
Of course it’s much preferable if the parents can be informed in the case of an abortion. The current guidelines make it very clear that doctors should try and persuade them to do so or at least confide in another close family member, because it is in their best interest to do so. But to force doctors to do so – and take it out of their professional decision – would have been a disaster. People like Ms Axon who seem to believe that parents have a divine right over their children don’t live in the real world.
Not only would it be wrong – but it would also discourage girls from going to their doctor in the first place, because they wouldn’t be able to trust them. The result is children placed at greater risk, particularly of backstreet abortionists, who are thankfully not as common as they were before the initial legalisation of abortion.
In the case of simple contraception advise… there shouldn’t even be the expectation that the parents would be told!
(The title of this, btw, is a Doctor Who reference. Sorry.)
Gracias to El Barto for the news that Futurama is returning to DVD, at least according to Billy West who provided the voice of Fry in the most excellent cartoon.
Nibbler
Right, if this news is confirmed I think I’ll crack open some Futurama DVDs tomorrow to celebrate 
(Thanks to Got Futurama for the image – the Futurama fan site)
Edit – I want to make it clear to readers that The Simpsons still rocks absolutely. 
Due to various teachers being ill or skiing (or possibly a combination of both) I only had a quick Physics lesson this morning before going home again. Which is a good thing too, because I’m really tired. So tired my dad beat me at Connect 4!
That’s basically it really. 
Have a good weekend!
Special fun extra link… Is this for real?
Just to complete today’s exam story – Physics went badly! I’m confident I’ll have to retake this now in June which I did not want to do, but hey, at least you can retake. And the worst part is that there were two really easy marks which I found out about just minutes afterwards. Oh well, today was just not my day for Physics. I left out too many questions to be able to do well. But although I thought it went really badly, I don’t think I’ll fail, and I’m not actually ‘upset’ upset (like 
upset) because it’s only an exam. I’m alive!
Now, to think of something completely different to take my mind of it… [flicks to BBC News]… ooh, nothing much. Small brothels. More paedophiles. A talking parrot. Great.
Did English exam this morning. As usual, I’m pretty bad about judging how an exam went… not a disaster, not the best essay I’ve ever written. I’m not sure – I made a fair amount of points, tried to relate them to the question, shoved in some quotes – we’ll have to see!
Anyway, Physics is at 1.30. It’s a bit more cut-throat than English, if you don’t know what to do you could just freeze. Hopefully that won’t happen
How valuable is last-minute revision anyway? I’m never sure. Apparently boys cram more than girls. Is it true? No idea. But certainly my blogging style changes when I’m nervous, all these rhetorical questions.
Signing off from the rather ugly IBM computer in the 6th Form area of the library…
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
