Boston Area Teens Had Pregnancy Pact

There's an alarming trend at Gloucester High School and it has nothing to do with pleather leggings. According to Time, as the school year finishes up, "17 girls are expecting babies-more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year."

As it turns out:

All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.

With this strange epidemic thrust upon them, school officials and parents are divided on what to do next. "Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006--the first increase in 15 years--Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control."

And it looks like the problem runs deeper than the issue of contraception.

The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

But what does this have to do with teenage girls doing everything they can to be pregnant? Well, on Gloucester High grad has an inkling:

Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8... gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

Read more at Time.com or at the Boston Globe.

Comments

[Trueheart]

I lived in Gloucester for many years and have maintained friendships there. Everyone I have spoken to says that there was no pact among these girls, and it's a fabrication. There has been a huge spike in teen pregnancies in the school. Condoms and sex education are available. For years, the school has had a policy of encouraging unwed mothers to finish their high school education, and provides free day care for the babies. It is not uncommon to see young mothers and baby strollers in the halls of Gloucester High. So here's what can happen if you take away the social stigma of teen pregnancy and make it possible for young mothers to get support from the government rather than their families or the men who made them pregnant.

[thepoliticalcat]

Good grief. What are we doing wrong as a society that our children are looking to their children to provide them with love? Are we selling the idea of love without also introducing our children to concepts like commitment, sacrifice, economic stability, duty, responsibility? This is the scourge the religious right has laid upon us.