http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25272678/

Teen ‘pregnancy pact’ has 17 girls expecting many moms-to-be at Mass. high school are aged 16 or younger

MSNBC News Services
updated 3:23 p.m. ET, Fri., June. 20, 2008


BOSTON - An investigation has been launched into an apparent teenage "pregnancy pact" that has at least 17 high-school girls expecting babies, four times more than last year, including many aged 16 or younger.

A high school health clinic in the city of Gloucester, Mass., became suspicious after seeing a surge in girls seeking pregnancy tests. Local officials said Thursday nearly half of those who became pregnant appear to have entered into a pact to have their babies together over the year.

"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine, which broke news of the pact on its Web site.

Some of the girls reacted to the news they were pregnant with high fives and plans for baby show[/b]ers, Sullivan said. One of the fathers [b]"is a 24-year-old homeless guy," Sullivan told the magazine. Others were boys in the school.

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

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

Carolyn Kirk, mayor of the port city 30 miles northeast of Boston, said that many factors could be involved in the recent surge in teen pregnancies in the community, but she doubts a dozen girls would conspire to get pregnant. Gloucester is a fishing town and has been going through an economic decline in recent years. That’s led to cuts in teachers, services and some health classes at local schools.

Still, Kirk told Reuters that authorities are looking at whether to pursue statutory rape charges. "We're at the very early stages of wrestling with the complexities of this problem," she said.

"But we also have to think about the boys. Some of these boys could have their lives changed. They could be in serious, serious trouble even if it was consensual because of their age — not from what the city could do but from what the girls' families could do," she told Reuters.

Under Massachusetts law, it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.

The ‘Juno’-Jamie Lynn effect?
"At the very least these men should be held responsible for financial support, if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested," Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester School Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Nationwide, teen pregnancies are showing signs of rising after steadily declining from 1991 to 2005. This trend was highlighted Thursday when Britney Spears' 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.

"The data seem to be indicating that the declines that we had seen through the 1990s are coming to a close," said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group focusing on reproductive issues.

Birth rates for teenagers aged 15 to 17 rose by 3 percent in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Now before I came across this today, my brother had once told me how girls were getting pregnant like crazy in his high school. It was funny how he put it, but then I see this today.

Teen pregnancy used to be something you never want to subject yourself to but it appears it's now part of the hype of trying to feel among as associated with teenagers. I certainly hope not.

~ ~ What's the World Coming TO?!!God help those poor babies that are being brought into the world!!

He Said that the mothers-to-be are generally[b]"Girls who lack self esteem and have a lack of love in their life"

[/b]

~Soo i suppose when they realise their babies cant feel that gap of wanting to be loved,what will they do then? Abandon the babies?

~It's inevitable most of these babies will end up in care, I just hope they end up in homes of people that want to love them uncondiontionally,some of these kids wont be able to handle the demands,pressures of been teenage mums!!

I really want to know the parents of these girls.

Omo, in High school, seeing 15 year olds getting pregnant during senior year was nothing new.

I mean, with the prom, grad night, grad bash, Homecoming, etc, they're pressure to find a boyfriend who'll want a lil quickie or two.
I mean, during prom night, just pop into the unsupervised restroom or in the halls, vacant enough to have a quick shag. awan omo oniranu!

I was close to one girl that had a baby when she was 15.
Her boyfriend or baby daddy was an idiot, dropped out of school during his junior year. Went to jail for getting a 15 year old pregnant.

when he came out, he was still living with his parents. . .so, is this idiot responsible enough to provide for a child?

But the baby was cute though, I gotta say. Pretty girls plus ugly boys make some fyna$$ baby!

stillwater:

I really want to know the parents of these girls.

~I bet most of them are clueless to what their kids are up to~


~I wont be quick to blame them either b/c Most teenagers have a way of rebelling against every moral/foundation they were instilled with!!


~I sure Peer Pressure played a huge role in this Pact!!

mohawkchic:

~I bet most of them are clueless to what their kids are up to~
~I wont be quick to blame them either b/c Most teenagers have a way of rebelling against every moral/foundation they were instilled with!!
~I sure Peer Pressure played a huge role in this Pact!!

How would they know when they, themselves, are busy chasing after some "daddy"or worrying about how they'll pay this bills and what not

~I sure Peer Pressure played a huge role in this Pact!!

We are still trying to curb vices like addiction to drugs and alcohol, now pregnancy? I'm overwhelmed.

Least now racists cant say only blacks are responsible for teen pregnancies

~

Mesmerize:

How would they know when they, themselves, are busy chasing after some kids or worrying about how they'll pay this bills and what not

~Unforunately thats the Cycle of life for most people!!

~There are parents who Juggle the demands of home and work but their kids have success stories!! That tells me the kids themselves have a responsibility of making certain decisions to achieve their goals in Life. . .too bad these girls chose to go down the delibrate teen preggy path!!

mohawkchic:

~
~Unforunately thats the Cycle of life for most people!!

~There are parents who Juggle the demands of home and work but their kids have success stories!! That tells me the kids themselves have a responsibility of making certain decisions to achieve their goals in Life. . .too bad these girls chose to go down the delibrate teen preggy path!!

I agree with this 110%
Yes, kids do have their own responsibilities towards staying on the right path to their own success. . .it's just sad how many falls/ gives in to peer pressure!
High School! It's like a video game, too much drama, desire to be popular, and secrets of hidden hate,love or revenge!

Mesmerize:

I agree with this 110%
Yes, kids do have their own responsibilities towards staying on the right path to their own success. . .it's just sad how many falls/ gives in to peer pressure!
High School! It's like a video game, too much drama, desire to be popular, and secrets of hidden hate,love or revenge!

~All these factors are a terrible combo for any kid to deal with!!

Mesmerize:

I agree with this 110%
Yes, kids do have their own responsibilities towards staying on the right path to their own success. . .it's just sad how many falls/ gives in to peer pressure!
High School! It's like a video game, too much drama, desire to be popular, and secrets of hidden hate,love or revenge!

True talk.

Self esteem really takes one a long way to survive the drama of high school.

if u think 17 kids having babies is a lot then u havnt been to the united kingdom yet,we v broken the record of having the youngest mum at 12,and enuff baby mamas just in south east/noth london,stoke newton u ll be suprised just for the councill flat and weekly 75pounds

girls these days be popping out babies like it ain't nothing. sometimes i feel sorry for them. if you have one child, i'll let it go, but when you got 3 kids, that's just something else.

With the way almost every celebrity is getting pregnant these days, i am not suprised because the media makes it cool and these girls are easily swayed thinking it is the coolest thing to do.

Yeah, it's 'hip' to be a teen mom in America, because it is glamorized in the media. In Nigeria, those girls future probably would have come to a standstill, because of the risk of being expelled from high school. But who am I to cast the first stone?