17 teen pregnancies and a pact to get pregnant

Update: Turns out the pact was a bunch of bullshit.

A Time article about a Gloucester, MA high school seems to be springing up all over the web today. A group of teen girls, none older than 16, decided vowed to get pregnant and support each other in child rearing.  To date, at least half of the 17 girls are happy to be pregnant.

School officials started looking into the matter as early as October after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant. By May, several students had returned multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and on hearing the results, “some girls seemed more upset when they weren’t pregnant than when they were,” Sullivan says. 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.

It breaks my heart to consider that teen girls anywhere, feel their best option in life is get pregnant before graduating high school and achieving personal and financial independence, whether that includes college, vocational training, or an entry-level administrative position locally.  Also, despite warning signs to clinic workers at the school, no one seemed willing to ask the tough questions until it was too late.

One recent graduate, who herself had a baby freshman year, commented

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.”

Women of all ages have gotten pregnant through the years for the same reason, but you have to wonder about the home lives of these girls that feel they must have their own children to feel loved.  Conveniently, none of the parents seem willing to talk to the media about their children.  Are those parents are asking themselves what they can do to be better parents, while their children (in all senses of the word) are preparing to their own babies into the world?

One has to wonder if those girls will still feel they made the right decision 5 years from now, when their friends, without child, are living single and exploring their option in the world?

UPDATE: Check out author Courtney Macavinta’s column about her own teen sex pact when she was in high school, as well as her thoughts on teen self-esteem and the media circus that has ensued.