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Will Massachusetts Ban Spanking?
Spanking is making headlines in Massachusetts where some say it is physical abuse and ought to be outlawed. A nurse named Kathleen Wolf is leading the charge. She wrote a bill that bans all forms of corporal -- or physical -- punishment. Representative Jay Kaufman introduced the bill into the state legislature. If the legislature passes it, then parents who spank their kids would be breaking the law.
People who are against the ban say that it's not the government's job to tell parents how to discipline their kids. Child abuse is already against the law and they claim that spanking is not abusive. If the bill passes, Massachusetts will be the only state with a ban against spanking.
There are 19 countries in the world with laws against corporal punishment. In Sweden, for example, parents can go to jail for spanking their kids. It's been illegal there since 1979.
In Massachusetts, some opponents of the ban are worried that if spanking becomes illegal, then yelling at kids will be banned next. They also worry that kids will become spoiled if they aren't spanked for doing bad things.
Kathleen Wolf disagrees. She says that it's already illegal for adults to hit each other in their homes and it makes sense for it to be illegal to hit kids too.
I'm Ben and that's what happened in our nation this week.
Do you think spanking should be banned? Sound off in this week's Call Out.
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