Reports: Teen girls made pact to get pregnant

[Mumita]

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.

[JMcGee]

I was a teen mother, but I was NOT high-fiving when I found out. I just chose to keep my daughter....she is now 5 and the best thing that has EVER happened to me. However, to be making a pact and HIGH-FIVING each-other....it kinda makes me sick to my stomach. It sounds to me like they were just out screwing any guy they could find.....come on, a homeless guy.....ARE YOU SERIOUS??????????????????? I bet you more than half of those girls have atleast one disease...if not more. I think its a shame. Their poor babies are going to have a HORRIBLE life. I graduated high school, went on to college and I am a full time wife, mother and worker. I provide and always have provided for my daughter....since the day I found out I was pregnant. So, it is not ALL teens with babies, just the ones that are screwing every guy possible to get pregnant, and the ones that think its kool to have a baby as a teenager. I could go on and on about this, but I will stop here.

[martikadragoon]

I saw this on yahoo.com and my first thought was WTF?!?! are kids crazy these days?

I know in the piece it says they're looking into who the "fathers" are. and that several men are thought to be in they're 20's.  

[leighanne143]

what do the glouchester parents have to say about this?  especilaly the parents of those girls.  go figure i live 25 minutes away from that city too.

[Mumita]

the also horribly crazy thing that NO-ONE has mentioned is that these girls are getting pregnant by whom?!?! The only one people are talking about is that 24yo homeless guy.  Wouldn't these girls want to at least choose a good father for their babies, AND are these guys over 18?!?! AND do they know their sexual history, they could not just get pregnant but get a horrible STD like, HIV, Herpes, Hepatitis, Clamydia, Gonorrea, syphillis, warts, who knows?!?!
Seems that they are paying more attention to the girls, but where are the sperm donors?  They are just as responsible for this.

[evthing4reason]

This is just so sad

[itcouldhappen]

I watched that on the news lastnight! Girls are CRAZY!!!!