Cheerleading, Abortion, and Punishment
Alba-Marie Alvarez is possibly the first member in the history of the Oswald cheerleading team to have a teen pregnancy. Whether she became pregnant through unprotected sex or rape is a mystery. What is not a mystery is the Alba-Marie wants an abortion. Unlike the majority of students at Oswald High School she is not from a wealthy family. She is a Venezuelan refugee that is the symbol of racial, economic, and ideological divide happening in our town of Oswald.
Parents of the mainly white ultra-conservative population of Oswald aren't too found of people like Alba-Marie. These parents discuss how refugees and immigrants are the cause of economic and criminal problems in America, Venezuelans are often labeled as socialist or victims of socialism, that the refugees should come here and only speak English and not Spanish, and woke liberals are responsible for people like Alba-Marie being able to enter the United States and settle in towns like Oswald, Florida. As a result, the majority of white students on the Oswald cheerleading team are conservative and have animosity towards liberals and liberal values. Regardless of Alba-Marie's political views, they associate Alba-Marie as a liberal who doesn't refuses to speak English. Yet, when I speak with Alba-Marie she speaks perfect English especially compared to when she was a Freshmen at Oswald not knowing any English. When I try speaking with her in Spanish she prefers I speak with her in English so she can improve her English skills. It makes sense that the white cheerleaders at Oswald have wrong assumptions about Alba-Marie. They never talk with Alba-Marie and their perspectives about Alba-Marie are only influenced by their parents and high school gossip.
Now, Alba-Marie is scared to have an abortion based on the amount of hate and adding fuel to the fire with other cheerleaders at Oswald. Right now, half of the cheerleading team at OHS are white and the other half are People of Color. If Alba-Marie gets an abortion many parents of students at Oswald will begin attacking and gossiping how immigrants like Alba-Marie are murderers who kill babies.
The only reason that an economically disadvantaged person like Alba-Marie is a student in an affluent town like Oswald is because of OHS's Special Education program. Alba-Marie has a learning disability which also automatically puts her among the "uncool" category of students at OHS. Our town's first Democratic mayor has been pro-active in setting up a special program designed to promote social integration and address mental health at Oswald. Yet, the efforts to fix the lack of integration between different demographics and cliques at Oswald has been politicized especially by conservative parents in our town.
People like Alba-Marie are conforming to the standards of other students that demonize her. Had Alba-Marie been in a school not as toxic as Oswald she would get an abortion. Yet, Alba-Marie isn't making decisions for herself but for other people. The influence of parents at Oswald and lack of integration between Oswald's diverse student body is creating lots of toxicity and division. Unfortunately, it seems to only get worst.
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