Pregnancy Boom at Local High School

[Jenn! 918]

Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High

As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing young unwed mothers. But principal Joseph Sullivan knows at least part of the reason there's been such a spike in teen pregnancies in this Massachusetts fishing town. 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.

The question of what to do next has divided this fiercely Catholic enclave. Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006—the first increase in 15 years—Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control. In any case, many residents worry that the problem goes much deeper. The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says 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."

The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. "We're proud to help the mothers stay in school," says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.

But by May, after nurse practitioner Kim Daly had administered some 150 pregnancy tests at Gloucester High's student clinic, she and the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brian Orr, a local pediatrician, began to advocate prescribing contraceptives regardless of parental consent, a practice at about 15 public high schools in Massachusetts. Currently Gloucester teens must travel about 20 miles (30 km) to reach the nearest women's health clinic; younger girls have to get a ride or take the train and walk. But the notion of a school handing out birth control pills has met with hostility. Says Mayor Carolyn Kirk: "Dr. Orr and Ms. Daly have no right to decide this for our children." The pair resigned in protest on May 30.

Gloucester's elected school committee plans to vote later this summer on whether to provide contraceptives. But that won't do much to solve the issue of teens wanting to get pregnant. Says rising junior Kacia Lowe, who is a classmate of the pactmakers': "No one's offered them a better option." And better options may be a tall order in a city so uncertain of its future. —with reporting by Kimberley McLeod/New York

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

FYI, Gloucester is the "Perfect Storm" town...

[Bootylicious!! 2]

But if they've made a pact to get pregnant wouldn't prescribing contraceptives really be worthless? Unless you make them take it every day what good is prescribing it?

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

im not surprised....I went to a catholic school all my life, 8 girls in my 8th grade graduating class of 35 people had babies by sophmore year, I laugh becuase I still consider my self a young mom, and yet, my child is the only child that came after a few years of marriage.. i know about 60 girls amongst the 1000 people i went to high school with who have a kid or kids out of wedlock...I have a friend who had her first at 16, second at 19, was married at 20 and divorced at 22....

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Yeah, the problem is that they want to get pregnant. No amount of contraceptives is going to help that. It's tricky; how to discourage teenage pregnancy while also providing enough support. I rarely hear, either in person or in the media, a teenager say 'whoops, I fell pregnant by accident'. It's nearly always 'hurrah I'm going to have a baby. Oh, and I get free housing/someone to love me/something to do with my life'.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

it seems bj's are out of style there.

[Peikko 1,575]

What's wierd to me, is that in this instance there aren't multiple fathers but one! How did this 24 year old gain so much influence over so many young girls?

I also think that somehow the education system and parents are failing girls if they still believe, in this day and age, that a girl's best opportunity to a successful life is to get pregnant. Most girls I grew up with were much more ambitious, they wanted to get to University and have careers. I didn't have one friend who wanted to get pregnant and married (or even in the proper order!!!) as their goal in life. That's not to say that having families wasn't part of their goal, just not the priority at school.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

What's wierd to me, is that in this instance there aren't multiple fathers but one! How did this 24 year old gain so much influence over so many young girls?

local drug dealer

[*JG* 2]

Sounds like a cult to me.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

What's wierd to me, is that in this instance there aren't multiple fathers but one! How did this 24 year old gain so much influence over so many young girls?

Actually it says 'one of the fathers...' so hopefully he's just the father of one baby!

[Sister Fracas 5]

I also think that somehow the education system and parents are failing girls if they still believe, in this day and age, that a girl's best opportunity to a successful life is to get pregnant. Most girls I grew up with were much more ambitious, they wanted to get to University and have careers. I didn't have one friend who wanted to get pregnant and married (or even in the proper order!!!) as their goal in life. That's not to say that having families wasn't part of their goal, just not the priority at school.

I agree. While I think it's great that the school is providing support and encouraging girls to stay in school, something is really missing in the sex ed classes. They need to be learning the realities of having a baby, especially at a young age.

When I graduated from highschool, there was one girl who'd already had a baby (out of about 500 girls). And somehow, by working really hard WHILE pregnant and a new mother, she managed to finish her classes one semester early and attend graduation with the rest of us. Of course she was the topic of a lot of gossip because she'd had a baby, but kudos to her for finishing school early. I'm pretty sure she went on to college too.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Sister Fracas

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I don't think there is any proper way to live your life. If you want to be a mother early then so be it. If you want to just work and not go to college then so be it. If you want to have 19 babies and just be a house wife then so be it. If you want to buy a house and have a career and wait till you're 29 to get married and start a family and finish college then so be it. To each their own. We don't have to all be the same.

[Sister Fracas 5]

I don't think there is any proper way to live your life. If you want to be a mother early then so be it. If you want to just work and not go to college then so be it. If you want to have 19 babies and just be a house wife then so be it. If you want to buy a house and have a career and wait till you're 29 to get married and start a family and finish college then so be it. To each their own. We don't have to all be the same.

right, but these girls apparently don't feel they have any other option than to get pregnant. There is something "off" with that.

Says rising junior Kacia Lowe, who is a classmate of the pactmakers': "No one's offered them a better option." And better options may be a tall order in a city so uncertain of its future.

Edited June 19, 2008 by Sister Fracas

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I don't think there is any proper way to live your life. If you want to be a mother early then so be it. If you want to just work and not go to college then so be it. If you want to have 19 babies and just be a house wife then so be it. If you want to buy a house and have a career and wait till you're 29 to get married and start a family and finish college then so be it. To each their own. We don't have to all be the same.

I agree with that.

But what is wrong is to have a baby because you made a pact with your girl friends!

[Jenn! 918]

I don't think there is any proper way to live your life. If you want to be a mother early then so be it. If you want to just work and not go to college then so be it. If you want to have 19 babies and just be a house wife then so be it. If you want to buy a house and have a career and wait till you're 29 to get married and start a family and finish college then so be it. To each their own. We don't have to all be the same.

I'm all for personal choice as well. But these are just kids. I don't think they can fully understand the consequences of these choices yet. I think a large number of them will regret making these life decisions at such an early age.

[SaadBell 0]

Give these girls a newborn for a couple of nights, that would change minds fast. I remember when my daughter was a infant, they are very demanding and with two days without sleep, maybe the idea won't be so awsome.