Reports: Teen girls made pact to get pregnant

GLOUCESTER, Mass. - A pact made by a group of teens to get pregnant and raise their babies together is at least partly behind a sudden spike in pregnancies at Gloucester High School, school officials said.

Principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine in a story published Wednesday that the girls confessed to making the pact after the school began investigating a rise in pregnancies that has left 17 girls at the school carrying a child. Normally, there are about four pregnancies a year at the school.

Sullivan told Time that nearly half of the expecting students, none over 16, were involved. Sullivan said students were coming to the school clinic multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and "seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were."

Some of the girls reacted to the news they were pregnant with high fives and plans for baby showers, Sullivan said. One of the fathers "is a 24-year-old homeless guy," Sullivan told the magazine.

Superintendent Christopher Farmer confirmed the deal to WBZ-TV, saying the girls had "an agreement to get pregnant."

He said the girls are generally "girls who lack self-esteem and have a lack of love in their life."

Christen Callahan, a former Gloucester High School student who had a child when she was 15, said on NBC's "Today" show that some of the girls would ask her about her own pregnancy.

"They would say stuff like, oh, I think my parents would be fine with it and they would help me, stuff like that," Callahan said.

But she said she had no firsthand knowledge of a pact between the girls to get pregnant.

"They were just kind of like curious about it, they never actually came out and said it," Callahan said.

The first reports of the students' apparent plan to get pregnant were in the Gloucester Daily Times in March, when Sullivan said students were reporting that the girls were getting pregnant on purpose.

The rash of pregnancies has shaken the seaside city about 30 miles north of Boston. Last month, two officials at the high school health center resigned to protest the resistance from the local hospital to the confidential distribution of contraceptives. The hospital administers the state money that funds the clinic.

"an agreement to get pregnant" at the age of less than 16..

They make this agreement as if they agree to watch backstreet boys or nsync's show, or Miley Cyrus, together (I don't know what teens girls like these days)

stupidity never going to stop, isn't it?

It's inane actions like this that drive up the cost of welfare and other social services.  Let's see how much they enjoy getting up at 3:00 in the morning to feed a screaming baby or have to skip activities with other highschoolers because they have to take care of the "toy" they just had to have.  What about child abuse and neglect because these teens don't want to own up to the responsibility of taking care of a child when the reality of it all hits them?

Sullivan told Time that nearly half of the expecting students, none over 16, were involved. Sullivan said students were coming to the school clinic multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and "seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were."

Why didn't the school clinic report the teens coming in time after time for pregnancy tests?  Didn't that raise a red flag for them?  Why weren't the parents notified?  Of course, the parents are the ones who will bear the brunt of the expense. 

---

careful. If the school clinic try to do anything to stop this, ACLU will come out barking again.

No doubt.  If it involves something immoral, corrupt, against the law or just plain stupid the ACLU will be right there on the case.  The parents, if they're shocked this, should sue the school and school district for negligence. 

---

Then again, this happened in Massachusetts, land of the fruity and nutty left-wing radical liberals so don't be surprised if all of this falls by the wayside.

---

Reading this article makes me think that homeschooling is more and more appealing... 

I'm not sure how it runs in the households of these teens, but I would think that the morals of the teens rest squarely on the shoulders of the parents not the schools.  If the parents are teaching their children morals and giving them a half way decent religious background then they wouldn't be in this mess.  The schools shouldn't have anything to do with the sexual behavior of these teens.   The biggest problem here is that the parents are giving the schools "way" too much control over their children's up-bring.  These parents need a wake up call so maybe they will start taking care of their own children!   One of the things I would check into is the sex education these kids are getting in the classes.  I think these kids are taught way too much - to fast - and it is an overload for their age groups.  That is when the curiosity starts.  Then I guess you have to look at the lack of role models that these kids have today as well.  It goes on and on...

Lady Jane said: I'm not sure how it runs in the households of these teens, but I would think that the morals of the teens rest squarely on the shoulders of the parents not the schools.  If the parents are teaching their children morals and giving them a half way decent religious background then they wouldn't be in this mess.  The schools shouldn't have anything to do with the sexual behavior of these teens.   The biggest problem here is that the parents are giving the schools "way" too much control over their children's up-bring.  These parents need a wake up call so maybe they will start taking care of their own children!   One of the things I would check into is the sex education these kids are getting in the classes.  I think these kids are taught way too much - to fast - and it is an overload for their age groups.  That is when the curiosity starts.  Then I guess you have to look at the lack of role models that these kids have today as well.  It goes on and on...

 

I agree with you, but I also know what it was like being a child from a Christian home being educated in a public school.  My parents were very involved & tried to monitor what we were being exposed to, but alas, I still went astray.  I must admit I followed the crowd & was sexually active before marriage (although not at 15).  The school I went to handed out free condoms & referred you to planned parenthood if you needed to get birth control without parental consent.  My parents prayed for me & did everything they could to instill good morals and Christian living in me.  The only thing they couldn't do was give me a relationship with Christ.  Until I had a relationship with my savior, I didn't think what I was doing was wrong.  I knew my parents said it was wrong, but I didn't feel like it was wrong, so I did it anyway.  Everything you said about teaching morals is correct, but you also have to remember that some of those teens may have good homes, but chose to rebel.  

I   also agree that sex education is not needed in public school.  That should be the parents job.  Don't get me started on public schools...