Teen “Pregnancy Pact”: The Perfect Storm?
The shocking news from the small fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts spread across the country and around the world: 17 girls from one high school were pregnant, part of a supposed ‘pregnancy pact’ in which the students intentionally set out to become teen mothers, with a vow to raise their babies together.
It wasn’t the first time Gloucester made international headlines. The tragic 1991 loss at sea of a Gloucester fishing boat and its crew prompted the book and the movie “The Perfect Storm.”
Now a tidal wave of finger-pointing about who or what was responsible for so many pregnancies tipped toward a “perfect storm” of outside influences.
Some blamed Gloucester’s depressed local economy and the demise of its once-thriving fishing industry. Others indicted so-called broken families and directionless youth. Gloucester High, it was suggested, had brought the predicament on itself, by providing easily accessible on-campus day care for the babies of student mothers. And Hollywood shouldered its share of responsibility—the movie “Juno” was blamed for glamorizing unwed teen motherhood, and the media’s obsession with pregnant celebs having babies as “accessories” was called out as well.
But soon cracks began to appear in the cultural blame game. A reproductive specialist noted that the pregnancy trend at Gloucester High began before “Juno” hit the theaters. Gloucester’s mayor said the pregnancy rate was a statistical “blip” and rued the lack of health education funding. And the School Superintendent stated that he’d never heard the term “pact” used by the students, only by the media.
After days of silence, one of the girls finally appeared on national television. 17-year-old Lindsey Oliver denied the existence of a pact. “There was a group of girls already pregnant that decided they were going to help each other to finish school and raise their kids together,” she said. “I think it was just a coincidence.”
Tell us what you think: Are the Gloucester teen pregnancies the result of a “perfect storm” of outside influences, or does responsibility lie elsewhere?
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Where are the parents? leila {
Teens should definitely not be getting pregnant. They’re simply immature. but the most important act was that they can not take care of a child if they cant even take care of themselves.Teens are all depending on their parents. If 17 teens decided to get pregnant, wouldn’t that be wouldn’t that be 34 teens deciding to get pregnant? Where are their parent? Don’t their parent have a say in if they should or should not get pregnant? I think the parents of these teens should have more discipline for their kids.
leila hedili | 1 year, 4 months ago
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Unpredictable
Teenagers need to stop worry about having a boyfriend/girlfriend and having sex. All we need to worry about is: going to school; getting good grades; graduating from college; and, getting a good job or accomplishing the career you want to do. That’s all we teens need to worry about. We need to avoid all the wrong things people say to you.
Abe-dog | 1 year, 4 months ago
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People will believe
People will believe whatever is taught to them. I would just like to kindly say that a fetus at 3 months IS a baby. Organs are developing; circulatory and urinary systems are operating; and, the liver produces bile. You just can’t tell me that that isn’t a baby, a human being, and that it isn’t alive.
My mother was adopted. Her mother was unwed and knew that she couldn’t provide a home for her baby. Abortion is NOT critical.
If I was pregnant and knew I could not properly care for a baby, I would consider abortion (although I would ask family members/friends if they would want to adopt first). I keep myself from those situations: I don’t have sex. It takes strength. I can’t say I’ve never wanted it, can’t say I haven’t done it once, but when you think about the consequences of having sex … it leads me to make the decision to stay away from those situations.
I’m not trying to nor do I want to control someone’s reproductive rights. I’m just exercising my opinion – isn’t that what this is for?
D.S | 1 year, 4 months ago
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People Can Be Taught to THINK
Some people may believe everything taught to them, and some may question it. Not everyone acts like a cult member. No, a fetus is not a baby. I urge you to research this fact. A baby is someone who is born and lives and breathes on its own. A 3 month old fetus cannot be born, therefore is not a baby. A baby is not connected to anything or anyone. Check out a dictionary.
I was adopted. This is as irrelevant to the topic as the fact your mother was adopted. No one should not have sex for fear of pregnancy. Birth control! Live, enjoy, have sex when ready and use birth control! The consequences of sex should be pleasure, joy, love of life, fun. If you have guilt and fear, you may not be ready. If you are a teen this may be the case and so you may be right in not engaging in sex.
Ann | 1 year, 4 months ago
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Thanks, Andrea
I agree wholeheartedly to what you said: if you’re not ready to care for a baby, you have no business having sex. That’s not a very popular opinion in this day and age. Having sex is lifted up all over the media and Hollywood and everything. Thanks for speaking out!
D.S | 1 year, 4 months ago
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WHO CAN THEY BLAME.
I don’t think that teenage girls should become pregnant because they all want to be together and take care of them together. It’s not possible. Basically everyone knows who is to blame, and its not only the parents but also the teenagers who went out and got themselves pregnant. I don’t think that anyone can blame the movie “JUNO” because there has been more movies about teen pregnancy. Although you may say that its the movies fault its not. The movies aren’t to blame its the people who go out and have sex just because they want to have babies. And it is not a good idea because ain’t no way teens are going to stay with each other forever because of a baby; it’s not possible. Having a child at a young age can ruin someones future and no one wants that, but its too late for these teens who are already pregnant. Next time, make a wise decision, before going out and making a mistake that can ruin your future.
Amaryllis | 1 year, 4 months ago
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Futures Ruined?
Their futures are not ruined, just forever changed. If that previous comment were true, then these girls are casualties. And, the comment if teens can’t support a child they shouldn’t have sex. So does that mean if they can support a child its ok? Abstaining isn’t the answer and sex education isn’t either. They get both in schools and what good has that done. What needs to be introduced to teens is purpose and focus.
Gwen | 1 year, 4 months ago
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Changing Lives
I am a sex educator in a county where approximately 2000 unwed teen births occur nearly every year. Up until recently, abstinence -only programs were the only programs the local schools were “allowed” to promote in our schools. I came up with the idea to not only “push the envelope” with the abstinence-PLUS programs(these are abstinence based programs that also discuss condoms and birth control), but I added a few other elements I deemed essential. First, I implemented a program to help teens focus on their futures and goals, then I also provided a workshop for parents who wanted to talk to their teens about S-E-X but weren’t sure how. Next I began a peer education program. Teens helping teens by providing accurate, complete information without worrying about the “adult element”. I figured if teens were getting their “sex education” from other teens, at least they could get the right info.
Now, I am focusing on another angle of the “teen pregnancy” issue…the ADULT MEN who are fathering these babies and are not being responsible or them after they are born. These men are criminals and sexual deviants and I believe the law cannot or will not do what is necessary to break the cycle. I reach out to girls and make them aware of the “lines” that are fed to them in order to 1)get them to have sex and 2)keep them from prosecuting a man that has coerced her into sex and provided her with a baby (and an STD if she’s one of the 1 in 3 statistics in this county). What so many people fail to realize is that this “teen pregnancy” problem is only a problem for the pregnant teen and those “dealing” with her. The father is almost always NOT a teen. We don’t see ads in the media telling adult men to “Just Say No” when it comes to having sex with these young girls.
Now, I do understand that many of these adult men are pursued by these young women in effort to raise their own living standards, impress their friends, to feel mature etc. But if you are a grown man and a young girl is pursuing you, then maybe you should use some common sense and a bit of restraint. This will not be a relationship that will be what you expect. Immature decision-making skills of this young girl already have her thinking you are going to be “the one” who will “take her away from her unhappy home” and protect her , provide for her…then if this becomes too much of a burden for you, she may think that she can hold onto you or make things better if she has your baby. Then what? Truth is, if a relationship isn’t strong enough to withstand, a baby surely isn’t going to make it work out. After a short period, she sues for child support…If you don’t pay, you go to jail and your child ends up on welfare. Is this how you expected a child of yours to be raised?
We need to hold more than the teen girls and parents responsible. But we also need to make it easier for a teenager to decide that not having sex or using contraception are the best choices to reach their goals in life.We could easily spend our tax money on making sure our teens have every available opportunity to go to college, learn a trade, etc. so they can realize that having a baby isn’t the only future they have. That they can bring themselves out of poverty and THEN decide to start a family that they CAN provide for.
Melissia M.Pierce, BSN | 1 year, 4 months ago
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YEAH RIGHT!
I know five 19 year old girls who all got pregnant at the same time! None of them were married or even had boyfriends. Though, it wasn’t planned by making a pact with each other, once one was pregnant -another got pregnant. Even my ex-girlfriend got pregnant, by a married man.
My feeling on this is that there is no way a girl would have a child if the government wasn’t paying our taxes for it. Also, most of the money provided to the baby is extorted from the fathers. It was the mother’s choice to keep the baby, so you provide for it. The single-parent average is sky-rocketing in this country and it is sickening. Out of my group of friends, I think I am the only one who has parents celebrating their anniversary this year that has lasted over even 15 years.
Anyone that has seen the movie “Idiocracy” is educated in the evolutionary act that is occurring and what the outcome will hold in store for our planet. Girls need hobbies and sex should not be one of them. I know that I will never want to end up with a girl who has a child with another man. I want to raise my own family, not someone else’s immature mistake.
Girls have Madonna, Britney Spears, etc. (single moms) to idolize. If they want to idolize anybody, have them idolize Kate Beckinsale (my dream woman). She is gorgeous, smart, mature, lady-like, MARRIED and is not on drugs or getting drunk all the time.
Also, a message to some single mothers out there… STOP GOING TO BARS TRYING TO FIND A FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND REPLACEMENT FATHER FOR YOUR ILLEGITIMATE NEWBORN! STAY HOME AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR BABY!
IF YOU CAN’T FEED ‘EM, DON’T BREED ‘EM.
B-RAD | 1 year, 4 months ago
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The last time I checked
You know, the last time I checked, these girls could not get themselves pregnant. It still takes two or a lab in some cases, but we are talking about high school girls. Yes, I would agree they should wait. If they cannot wait, they should use good protection, but sometimes these things just happen and that means that the boys (and I use that term because they do not grow up until they are over 35) are just as responsible for the mistake as the girls are.
Just because the burden of “breeding”, as you put it, lies inside the female body does not mean she is the only one responsible for the behavior that got her that way! One too many times the boys just walk away as if they have done nothing wrong, and that is when they end up having to pay child support. No woman wants to go to the child support office and beg for help to get the father to admit he has a child; they only want him to do the right thing from the beginning and be involved and provide for the child. The dead beats and the fathers that are somewhat uninvolved are the ones that are behind in support and never around. The ones that are on time and always around are the responsible ones and are always involved. Although if you want to live in a fantasy world where the sky is green and the grass is blue, you can call in extortion. If you would be involved and do the right thing from the start, then it would not come to that. Also, if after you were charged with support obligations, you would pay on time and in full, you would not fall behind and owe arrearages that are charged interest. If only these kids knew the kinds of hardships that were ahead of them they would be more careful.
Jen | 1 year, 4 months ago
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