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Teen Pregnancy: A School Counselor’s Dilemma

Elizabeth Mangelsdorf

Brandman University

CSPU 511

Dr. Melissa Chan-Nauli

March 8, 2020
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When a student comes to a school counselor to discuss her pregnancy, she may be scared,

confused and uncertain of what she should do. Should she tell her parents/guardians, or keep the

information from them? Should she get an abortion or give birth to the child? This situation also

can bring up ethical and moral issues for the school counselor. Is the school counselor required

to inform the student’s parents/guardians about their child’s pregnancy? Because of

confidentiality, does the counselor have an ethical obligation to keep the information about a

pregnancy or abortion private? To answer these questions, the counselor must be well informed

about the laws and legal opinions regarding student confidentiality. They also must be aware,

and take into account, their school district’s policies, as well as the ethical standards of their

profession.

Teen pregnancy has many undesirable consequences for students. In her book, ​School

Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law,​ published by the American School Counselor

Association, Carolyn Stone writes:

Teenage pregnancy is a significant contributor to high school dropout rates among teen

girls. The National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) reports that 30 percent of

teenage girls who drop out of high school cite pregnancy or parenthood as a primary

reason. The rate is even higher for Hispanic and African-American teens, at 36 and 38

percent, respectively. Nationally, only about half of all teen mothers earn a high school

diploma by age 22. And among those who have a baby before age 18, about 40 percent

finish high school and less than 2 percent finish college by age 30 (2017, p. 233).
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According to Stone, parental involvement can be supportive and beneficial, or punitive, coercive

and abusive. Stone goes on to state that the reasons minors choose not to involve their

parents/guardians in abortion decisions include, “fear of rejection, fear of disappointing their

parents/guardians, fear of violence at home,.... and/or fear their parents/guardians will force them

to have an abortion.” (​School Counseling Principles​, 2017, p. 240)

School counselors need to consider their responsibility to respect the student’s needs for

confidentiality. According to Nancy Carlson, a counseling specialist for the American

Counseling Association, “One way a counselor can build that trust is by not telling others —

especially parents/guardians — every last detail of what was said in a counseling session. Trust

can take weeks or even months to build, but it can be shattered in a moment — and possibly

forever.” (Carlson, 2017, p. 16) The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) ethical

standards state that school counselors need to keep information confidential unless legal

requirements demand that confidential information be revealed or a breach is required to prevent

serious and foreseeable harm to the student. (2016, p. 2) So where does this leave the school

counselor when dealing with a student that is pregnant?

Laws and regulations are different according to the state where the student resides. In

California, for example, according to the former State Attorney General Kamala Harris in an

opinion she issued in 2011, a school counselor is not required to disclose personal information,

including pregnancy-related information, to a student’s parents/guardians, or a school principal,

if “the counselor has reasonable cause to believe that disclosure is necessary to avert a clear and

present danger to the student’s health, safety, or welfare.” (Harris, 2011, p. 2)

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But an opposite ruling requiring parental notification of a pregnancy occurred in the State

of New York when, in 2002, the Port Washington School District enacted a policy requiring

educators to inform parents/guardians of a student’s pregnancy. The district’s teachers

association tried to stop implementation of the policy, but failed. Stone, in her textbook, ​School

Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law,​ states the following:

It was hoped that the messiness of the Port Washington court case would dissuade other

districts from policy-making around pregnancy and minors’ confidentiality rights. The

courts ruled in favor of the district but not without serious concerns about how the policy

affects federal law. Unfortunately, districts do not seem deterred; similar policies

continue to surface and be implemented in other districts.” (2017, p. 241).

In New Hampshire, there is a legal requirement that parents/guardians be notified if their

minor child is seeking an abortion. But there is also an option for the minor to get a judicial

bypass of this requirement. But New Hampshire's highest court also ruled that a school district

must reinstate a high school counselor who was released from her position after she clashed with

her principal about how to handle a student's desire to terminate her pregnancy. In 2012, a

pregnant girl came to the school counselor, who suggested she tell her mother she was planning

on getting an abortion. But the girl and her boyfriend did not want to reveal the pregnancy to her

mother. The counselor also talked with the school principal, who wanted to tell the

parents/guardians about the planned abortion, but the counselor objected because she felt the

student had the right to keep the pregnancy confidential. The female student eventually went to

court to get a restraining order not allowing the school principal to disclose this information to

her parents/guardians. Four months later, the school counselor’s contract was not renewed
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because of insubordination, breach of confidentiality and neglect of duties. But in 2016, the New

Hampshire Supreme Court ordered the school counselor reinstated to her job. The state high

court ruled that the counselor was not insubordinate on the basis of failing to go up the chain of

command before aiding the student on her options for a judicial bypass. (Walsh, 2016)

One reason a school district might implement a parental notification policy regarding a

student’s pregnancy or possible abortion includes the belief that informing parents/guardians is

always in the best interest of the pregnant student and her unborn child. But according to Stone,

“In practice, however, such policies are too drastic, as they completely eliminate the discretion

needed for caring educators working on behalf of individual students. Notification policies treat

each student the same whether she is a competent, mature 17 year old or a developmentally

delayed 14 year old.” (“ District Policy and School Pregnancy”, 2012, p.1)

A second reason a district might have a parental notification policy is to protect the

district from legal issues when a parent/guardian is not informed about their child’s pregnancy.

But according to Sandra Kopels, a lawyer and social worker who is a professor of social work at

the University of Illinois, school district notification policies may actually open the districts, and

their schools up to increased liability for violations of students' constitutional rights to privacy

and their rights to confidentiality. (Ciciora, 2010)

And finally, this type of policy might be implemented in the hope that such a policy will

result in parents/guardians persuading their children to carry their baby to term. But, according to

Stone, studies show that one-fifth of minors whose pregnancy was revealed to their

parents/guardians by a third party were forced to have an abortion, and more than 90 percent of

the parents/guardians believed that an abortion is in their minor child’s best interest. Stone also
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reports, “Minors whose pregnancy was revealed by a third party were more likely to report

physical violence between them and their parents/guardians or concerns that there might be such

violence.” (Stone, “District Policy and School Pregnancy”, 2012)

According to the American School Counselor Association’s ethical standards, a main

responsibility of a school counselor is to respect a student’s right to confidentiality. As the

ethical standards state, “All students have the right to... privacy that should be honored to the

greatest extent possible, while balancing other competing interests (e.g., best interests of

students, safety of others, parental rights) and adhering to laws, policies and ethical standards

pertaining to confidentiality and disclosure in the school setting.” (2016, p. 1)

So how does a school counselor handle the situation of a student who has revealed that

she is pregnant, or considering an abortion? According to a survey of 749 ASCA members

conducted by Stone in March 2017, 48.4% of school counselors do not automatically inform the

student’s parents, but always work diligently to get her to inform her parents/guardians. The

survey also reported that 21.9% of the counselors will sometimes make the decision to inform

the parents/guardians if the student decides not to, and only 2% will never inform the

parents/guardians under any circumstances. (16.3% of the counselors had never worked with a

student regarding a pregnancy.) (​School Counseling Principles,​ 2017, p. 240)

According to the American School Counselor Association, if a school counselor finds

themselves in the position of dealing with a student who is pregnancy and/or considering an

abortion, the school counselor should make sure that they ​know and understand their state laws

and school board policies regarding this issue. The counselor also should have an understanding

of the student’s relationship with her parents/guardians. This will give the counselor insights into
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how to advise the student to tell her parents/guardians about her pregnancy. (ASCA, Legal &

Ethical FAQ) If the student insists that she does not want to inform her parents/guardians, the

counselor should work to understand the reasoning behind this decision, as the counselor tries to

decide how to proceed. And, as always, if the school counselor is uncertain on what to do, it is

always best to consult other trusted professional colleagues to get their opinions and advice on

the best way to help the student through this difficult, and often complex, situation.
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References

American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA Ethical Standards for School

Counselors. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/Ethics/EthicalStandards2016.p

df

American School Counselor Association. (n.d.). Legal & Ethical FAQ: American School

Counselor Association (ASCA). Retrieved March 7, 2020, from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/legal-ethical/legal-e

thical-faq

Carlson, N. (2017, October). Ethics Update: To tell or not to tell: The fine line between

minors’ privacy and others’ right to know. Retrieved February 10, 2020, from

https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/ethics-columns/ethics_octo

ber-2017_minor-privacy.pdf?sfvrsn=a25522c_6

Ciciora, P. (2010, June 28). When a minor becomes pregnant, must schools notify the

parents? Retrieved February 10, 2020, from

https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/198696

Harris, K. Opinion of Kamala D. Harris, No. 08-509, Opinion of Kamala D. Harris, No.

08-5091–17 (2011). San Francisco, CA. Retrieved from

https://www.oag.ca.gov/system/files/opinions/pdfs/08-509.pdf
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Stone, C. (2012, September 1). District Policy and Student Pregnancy. Retrieved

February 10, 2020, from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/september-october-2012/district

-policy-and-student-pregnancy

Stone, C. (2017). ​School Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law​ (Vol. 4). Alexandria,

VA: American School Counselor Association. Kindle Edition.

Walsh, M. (2016, April 13). N.H. Supreme Court Backs School Counselor on Abortion

Advice to Student. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2016/04/nh_supreme_court_backs_sc

hool_.html