Michigan Blog - Featuring Michigan Shopping, Travel, Business & People

Michigan Shopping, Deals and Coupons - People and community, Michigan Sports (as well as High School Sports), Traveling in the State of Michigan, Michigan Events and Michigan Business - all in one place.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Infant Supplies, Caring for a Baby and Maternity Clothes- CLICK HERE!

Exactly how did it get to this point? - Teri Rhodes

“Never can we avert every tragedy. They are a part of life. But we can and should learn from them, deal compassionately with those who are hurting and double our efforts to offer support to those who are in crisis.” — A statement issued by Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa.

The district attorney from Erie, Pennsylvania took five weeks to charge 19-year-old Teri Rhodes with homicide. A month and a week after she gave birth to and "allegedly" suffocated her newborn baby daughter, Rhodes sat in a courtroom with bloodshot eyes and arms wrapped around her body, as she was read the charges against her. No need to repeat the charges here, you have read them all- over and over again.

I have too much in common with the Rhodes family to not be following this story closely. I too, have daughters that play volleyball in the Catholic League and they have aspirations to play college ball. My heart breaks to see the rest of Teri's life be ripped away from her because of this horrendous mistake. On the other hand, I was adopted at birth and feel a deep sense of devastation and sadness for her baby girl who only had 10 minutes to live in this world.

I can't help to wonder where I would be if my birth-mother had made such a mistake.

Teri was a fabulous setter at Ladywood High School in Livonia and both Teri and her family are well known in southeast Michigan volleyball circles. Teri played for the Motorcity Volleyball club before it became Michigan Elite and her younger sisters are still involved in volleyball here in Michigan.

What went wrong and was there a chance, somewhere along the line, to save both Teri and her baby? Why did Teri Rhodes choose to keep her pregnancy a secret? Secrets are powerful and dangerous for youth. How could she have spent the entire summer at her parents home and they not have known that she was pregnant?

Rhodes managed to hide her pregnancy from her parents, her sisters and her friends. Still, there were people in Teri Rhodes’ life who knew something was wrong. Rhodes’ assistant volleyball coach suspected pregnancy and asked Rhodes to take a pregnancy test, which she did on August 11.

The test, she said, was negative.

But if we only study the time before Teri Rhodes gave birth to her baby daughter and the time that she was pregnant, we haven't come close to how far back we need to look to find these answers.

I am sure that Terri Rhodes will become a target for many people to voice their personal opinions regarding abortion, sex education, college athletes and abstinence.

When do we stop debating over these things and start to figure out how we keep lives from ending like this?

The story of Teri Rhodes is heartbreaking. Many of us will be crying over the next few weeks - but none as hard as Teri and her family.

What exactly did you not understand about "Thou Shalt Not Kill"?

Labels: homicide, ladywood volleyball, mercyhurst, michigan elite, pregnancy, rhodes, teri rhodes

posted by The MBD # 10:26 AM

Comments:

Teri went to St. Williams Grade School with me and was a very nice girl.

This is shocking to me.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 20, 2007 1:18 PM

it amazes me when people come forward to say, "she was a very nice girl" about about murderes...what relevance does that have..coming from a stong education catholic education, i have even more in common with teri than the author of this blog...and, i myself am much more inclined to empathize with the innocent life that had no chance against her calculated, cold-blooded killer of a mother...i myself was the star setting for ladywood not several years back...went away to college...faced the pressures of the world head-on...teri knew what she was doing, she knew the consequences, she went to volleyball practice after wrapping her living child in a plastic bag...i am sure she was as aware as any of us that she could leave her baby on the doorstep of a church with no explanation...we need to set an example...live up to the consequences of the choices you've made, give her up for adoption, abandon her on someone's front porch, no where on the list of options is infanticide..i do NOT feel sorry for this woman, i feel sorry for her family her taught her better and for her baby who lives long enough to suffer her death

# posted by

Anonymous : September 21, 2007 9:46 AM

I disagree. This girl may have had nowhere to go to?

She may have been alone. Her Dad may have gotten mad at her?

How can you call her a murderer?

# posted by

Anonymous : September 21, 2007 2:38 PM

Cold-blooded killer? What is wrong with you freak?

# posted by

Anonymous : September 21, 2007 3:02 PM

I don't think she is a cold blooded killer, I went to a catholic high school and I know the pressures of being prefect! I think that we need to teach our youth more about safe sex practices and about how to correct a mistake! I doubt she believed she was pregnant...because she couldn't be pregnant, it was not her plan and the mind plays terrible tricks on those who want to believe something so badly, she wanted to believe that there was something else wrong with her, because being pregnant messed up her plans. she found herself between a rock and a hard place, and felt she had no where to turn. Our youth needs to learn from the mistakes of others, but we should feel sympathy because you never know when you will be faced with a life altering decision. I do not think she is a cold blooded killer, she did not love her baby, because she did not want to be a mom, I agree there were other choices, but we do not know the full story, and until we do, we should not judge her actions...she is not steven grant, she was a young girl who made a life altering decision, that really messed up her life!

# posted by

Anonymous : September 22, 2007 11:20 PM

It is so sad that her family has to go through this. They are such good people.

Her sisters are still playing in the area - one at Ladywood and one at St. Williams, I believe

Please pray for her whole family, as well as herself.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 24, 2007 7:37 PM

I understand all the hoopla about being on the pill…but after going to Catholic schools all my life and then going to a city school, one can not help notice the discrepancies of teenage pregnancies between private and public schools. Public schools have a great percentage more of pregnancy. One girl(Rhodes) does not represent a whole population. It’s like me saying that because I’m human and like green beans, all other humans like green beans.

The average age a girl engages in sex is 14!!! Ok, your right, lets just put them on the pill and let them sleep around, because every 14-year-old girl knows all about sex, and the pill solves ALL our physical and emotional issues related to having sex out of it’s proper context. Oh yes, before I forget, having sex young and with lots of partners is dumb! So dumb, that these people get STDs, which in turn erradicates all the dumb people from the planet. Survival of the fittest! How’s that for a Catholic educated girl who was taught to believe evolution was wrong? Please, don’t become a parent! Take the pill!

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:34 PM

I went to a private grade school, high school and college in fact I went to high school at the same school as Teri Rhodes. We are pushed towards one form of contraception, abstinence, but we are made aware of other forms, how to get them and as well as the consequences of our actions.

Young women today have information regarding contraception coming from many different places not only schools. Abstinence is only as strong as the person practicing, just like the pill only works if you are diligent in its use. One persons wrongdoing cannot be blamed on the private school system. Also the pill is not always a surefire way to prevent pregnancy.

For instance, during the first seven days of use the pill needs to be backed up by another method. Also there is the random one percent of error, as well as side affects that may prevent some women from it’s use.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:36 PM

I went to school with Teri Rhodes. The physical is shocking to me. We had 4 other pregnancies in our highschool and all were completely supported by staff and students alike. I took the exact same health course as her and they DID teach us about contraception. They also taught us about abortion, symptoms, and responsibility.

This girl is insane. I didn’t see her over the summer, but on her facebook photos, she has a bag over her stomach the whole time. By the way. I would probably get checked if I hadn’t had my period in 9 months, my breasts were swelling and secreting, and my stomach was swelling. maybe I’m just cautious! This is shocking, but it has nothing to do with her education. She knew better and did nothing.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:36 PM

I would just like to clarify some facts about this specific case. First, it is obvious that she was aware of her pregnancy when she googled terms referring to aborting a baby yourself within close proximity to her delivering the baby. She ABSOLUTELY knew she was pregnant and she also ABSOLUTELY intended to MURDER that baby either before or shortly after it was born. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing when she did it, the evidence proves it. And furthermore, the doctor at the university isn’t totally mentall incompetent, he ORDERED her to undergo testing for pregnancy the following week, which never came for obvious reasons. Her coach ALSO ORDERED her to take a pregnancy test.

ALSO, what is even MORE disturbing about this case, is that the campus doctor AND the coach OBVIOUSLY knew she was pregnant and yet they did WHAT to help her? uhm…they approached her in a demanding and accusing manner, by forcing her into admitting she was pregnant. They should have rather called her PARENTS MAYBE??? And speaking of parents…can you really believe that her parents were unaware that she was 9 months pregnant? RIGHT.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:38 PM

I am in NO way shape or form defending Rhodes in what she did… it makes me sick to even think a person is capable of this… but I just wanted to comment about her Catholic schooling.

As a few girls before me have commented, I attended HER Catholic high school. This was after I attending public school K-8th grade. I was taught more about contraceptives at the Catholic High School than I ever was in my public schools… and we were given Sex Education every year.

There are probably the same amount of sexually active girls in our high school than there are in any other high school and almost all of them are on some form of birth control.

Also, as stated above. We did have other pregnant girls in our year who were very supported during their pregnancies. There is no reason she should have acted this way, and it is definitely NOT fair to blame it on her Catholic upbringing.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:38 PM

I think you have no compassion for this situation at all. You don’t know Teri, and if you think that because she went to a Catholic school she didn’t know about birth control or her options because of that, then I think you are a moron. In today’s society, there are so many advertisements for the pill and other options of birth control, there is no possible way for someone to not know about it. And how dare you trivialize her pain and obvious trama by making a joke about it being like a Lifetime movie. I think you should feel awful about what you said and maybe if you had gone to a Catholic school you would be able to forgive and show some compassion.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:39 PM

The whole point of most of these posts was to combat the above stated points in the article that stated that this whole mess wouldn’t have happened if Teri had learned contraception from her CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL!

Half the people on this wall including myself went to the same wchool with Teri and we did not have an abstinence only education. Everyone knows she broke the law an no one ever suggested a lighter sentence.

She deserves punishment as any other person woulf. If any person needs to be smacked it’s the one making sarcastic jokes and smilies regarding the death of a human being. If anyone should be considered sick, it should be you. If you had any idea about the religion you so blatantly want to screw, you would understand that Catholics consider this a horrible, horrible event.

I respect your beliefs and I’m sorry your world is so unfair but next time you should do your reading before assuming everyone is wrong. This was never about her religion or for the argument of a get out of murder free card, it was about clearing up mistakes and telling people the truth.

Your right, her religion doesn’t matter however to those of us who have had the same education and upbringing, we want it known that it has nothing to do with her education.It was her wrong choice. You talk about Americanism, well both punishment and compassion must be shown to all citizens even if you don’t want to participate…

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:40 PM

A statewide program known simply as Safe Delivery allows the parents of a newborn infant to surrender the child to certain police, fire, or hospital personnel within 72 hours of a birth, with full protection of anonymity, very few questions asked (of Teri Rhodes or anyone) and assurances the baby will receive comprehensive care before placement in an adoption agency.

First implemented in January 2001 under the Safe Delivery of Newborn's Act, the program is intended to give troubled or unsure parents an alternative to doing something dire, as allegedly was the case involving 18-year-old Mercyhurst College student and Commerce Township resident Teri Rhodes, who has been charged with the death or her newborn daughter. The baby was found dead by police on Sunday, Aug. 12, inside a plastic bag on the shower floor in Rhodes' campus apartment in Erie, Penn.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:44 PM

A free confidential and always open telephone line has been made available for prospective parents who have questions or need information on the services available to them. It can be reached by dialing 1-800-733-7733.

# posted by

Anonymous : September 26, 2007 6:48 PM

The trail of Teri Rhodes has been placed on the June calendar of Erie County Judge Rusty Cunningham. The start date has been set for June 16, 2008. Rhodes gave birth on August 12 to a baby girl. She cut the umbilical cord with a pair of scissors, placed the new born baby in a plastic bag and took a shower. The baby lived for 10 minutes before she died by suffocation - either by having something placed over her face or by being sealed in a plastic bag. In Pennsylvania, first degree murder carries the possibility of death by lethal injection.

# posted by

Anonymous : May 14, 2008 5:41 AM

Michigan Blog - Featuring Michigan Shopping, Travel, Business & People

Infant Supplies, Caring for a Baby and Maternity Clothes- CLICK HERE!

Previous Posts