My Ranting Soapbox

I usually don't pay attention to the news on the Internet but my hubby told me where there was a decent site to get a more conservative view. I just happened to look at this week and what I saw in the news was appalling, disgusting, and just plain angered me to the point that I wish I had some clout somewhere to change things. I don't but I can make darn sure that my voice is heard.
The first story I read about was that there was a 10 year old girl in Mexico who was pregnant with her stepfather's child. The courts there had denied her an abortion because she was 18 weeks along and they only allow abortions up through the 12th week. It was not about the abortion part that angered me but the fact that this was a 10 YEAR OLD. A child, literally, pregnant. She had been abused for who knows how long and now she had the responsibility of having to give birth. This is not something a child should have to do. She has probably been so abused that she knows nothing different. It sickens my stomach that she has to go through this. Where is the justice? Where is the decency? Is this man so demented that he finds actual pleasure in doing this to her? How many others have been treated like this? How many more have to endure this? What is this world coming to?
The next story I read a couple of days later was about a 12 year old girl who was getting a divorce from her 80 year old husband. It was in the middle east where they have arranged marriages. Her family was mad because they paid her dowry of $23,000 and would not get it back. She was banned from her family because she had humiliated them and caused them embarrassment. How sick is this? I know I shouldn't say that but seriously?!!!!?? Luckily, for her the courts there did find the results in her favor and the law was changed to say that arranged marriages couldn't be done until the girl was 16. The article stated that until now it was not unheard of for girls to be married as early as 9 years old. WHAT???????? This is more than I could stomach.
I knew that the world was getting worse but OH MYLANTA!!!!!
The straw that broke the camel's back for me and prompted me to write is the article that in the USA, there was a "gentleman's club" that had a 14 year old girl dancing there topless. She had been working there for several months and the staff knew that she was as young as she was. The money she brought in was more powerful than the moral issue. It was disgusting to know that there are men who get their kicks from doing who knows what to her and having her do who knows what to them. Not only that in a club like that there are other women and you would think that they would have some sort of conscious that would prompt them to protect her or better yet, get her some help.
How can we sit back and do nothing about these injustices? How can we just calmly say, well it isn't here so there really isn't anything we can do? How can we not want to step up and make a difference? What if these were your children? What if this was happening to you? Are we that desensitize to all this now? Is that what we have gotten to in this world today? When will these idiots doing this be made to stop? Why are our children being allowed to be treated in this matter?
I cried. I cried long and hard for these specific children and then I cried for the other children that I know have suffered this and more and we just haven't heard about it. My tears aren't going to change the world. I know that but maybe these words will be read by someone who will know how to make those changes. I am praying for that.