Pregnancy pact?!
17 girls at Gloucester Massachusetts high school, entered into a pregnancy pact, and only one of them is above the age of 15. She's 16 years old.
17 girls at the high school have become pregnant this year, with half of them sophomores who had entered into a pregnancy pact. All but one of the seven or eight girls who set out to become pregnant are 15 years old; the other is 16. Most got pregnant by their boyfriends, but one father is reportedly a 24-year-old homeless man.
In Mass, it is considered statutory rape to have sex with a 15 year old, so not only are all of these young fathers and the homeless man, now on the hook for child support, most of them will be charged with rape even though the sex was consensual and initiated by the girls.
Is it the Juno effect?
Teen girls in movies getting pregnant, or teen age celebs like Jamie Lynn Spears, having a baby at age 17, does have an effect on impressionable young girls.
I loved the movie Juno, I thought it was quite good and funny, but even as I watched it I thought to myself, 'Here we go, teen pregnancy in a positive light. The parents were not angry at all, as matter of fact, they were rather accepting of the whole thing and never once yelled at her for doing this. Saying to her they didn't think she was that kind of girl, wasn't exactly admonishment of what she had done.'
"Gloucester is a very, very proud community," she said of the heavily Roman Catholic and insular town that is accessible only by a bridge from the mainland. "It has a long tradition of fishing industry that has really gone away in recent years. Jobs are not there anymore. The jobs that these young people thought they were going to have are disappearing."
The kids, she said, can't see a way out. "None of them have a very strong life plan," Kingsbury said. "Being a mother became something they can do, gave them an identity: 'I can be someone. I can be a mother.' They didn't really have an alternative. Nobody offered them a better life."
Sure, they can be mothers, but at their ages?
I know teen pregnancy happens, it's not abnormal, lots of girls get pregnant while young, but in this place they live, there is no hope, there are no jobs, the boys who impregnated them could serve jail time for rape, so there goes the child support they thought they would get.
All of these girls were thrilled when they learned they were pregnant.
I can't wrap my head around it.
Not only are they teen moms, they are single teen moms.
Heck, I was married and 21 years old when I had Mark. I was scared shitless!
I had no idea what I was doing, I must have called my mother a dozen times a day to ask her questions, I worried all the time that I would break him or not feeding him enough, was he hot, was he cold, was I doing any of this at all the right way?
It was rough, it still is rough.
I've been a single parent for 15 years now, and it's still scary, I still wonder if I'm doing this right.
Then there's the 24-year-old homeless man whom one girl chose to father her child. What to do with him?
Yes, what do they do with him?
And why the hell did this girl have sex with a homeless man?!
Was she so desperate to keep her part of the pact, that she figured any man who would have sex with her was good enough?!
This whole thing just blows my mind.
Some of these girls said things like "I think my parents will help me with the baby."
What if they don't? What if they can't afford to? What if their parents lose their jobs?
This community while proud, has no jobs, the shops are closing, and now there's all these teen girls who are expecting their parents to help them raise this baby.
Did they think they'd all have like a little babysitting co-op because they're all friends?
This is just crazy, and as a single parent, I'm really just blown away by the stupidity of this whole thing.
I really hope that when NBC airs the Baby Borrowers, it isn't sugar coated, that it's a slam to the face reality check for teen aged girls and their boyfriend/potential baby daddies, that want to have children.
Teen girls in this country need a frigging wake up call.
Comments
Aw, for fuck's sake! Mike WORKED in Gloucester a long time ago, we had NO car, but he got there by public transit. It is NOT that isolated, they have commuter rails into Boston, and it's not all that far. You'd think that it was way out in the middle of nowhere, the way these people are talking. They can't go away to school, and get jobs in Boston, or neighboring areas? Or just go to school in another part of the country, and stay there if there is work?
I agree with you...getting pregnant so young just traps them in Gloucester forever. They will never get on that commuter rail to Boston, to see what else is out there, that could make them *someone*.
As a taxpayer in Massachusetts, this also pisses me off that these girls will be getting public assistance. I have absolutely no problem with public assistance for those who fall on difficult times and are truly in need, but I hate it when girls like this get pregnant and rely on the welfare system to take care of them. I feel that it just makes it harder for those who are really in need to get assistance.
Posted by: Christine | June 20, 2008 6:17 PM
These girls are treating pregnancy like it is a fad. What the hell are they going to do when the baby is here? These girls really need to be evaluated. Damn I was 19 when I got pregnant and 20 when Jeff was born. I worked my ass off and did not rely on assistance. These girls are fooling themselves. How many do you think will give their children up for adoption when they find out their parents won't be their purses? This just irritates me to no end.
Posted by: Mindy | June 20, 2008 10:20 PM
Boy life sure has changed, I remember back in the day if someone ended up pregnant...they were taken out of the system and placed into special schooling. Why? Because they didn't want the other girls to do what they did. NOW THIS? These girls making a pact? WTH are their parents doing about it? I am just appalled by this. I am glad to have a boy right now, but that doesn't mean he is any better. I am just going to do my best as a parent, teach him responsibility. But seriously, what were these girls thinking? I am thinking of all that pain I went thru with my Son...and how bad it hurt. They sure got a wake up call coming. THEN later on in life when they are in their early twenties with a 5-6 year old trying to go on dates them feeling really stupid for making this pact that was "So Cool"
Posted by: Christie | June 20, 2008 10:40 PM
all of these girls should go kill themselves. end of story
Posted by: the dude | June 21, 2008 1:23 PM
I heard and read about this on the news the other morning and was like OMFG, are you KIDDING me? Amazing all the lives that are going to be forever changed because of the choice these girls made! It just makes you sick!
Posted by: Holly | June 22, 2008 3:09 AM
These girls have NO idea what "being a mother" entails. They think it will be fun & they'll get attention and it'll all be terrific. When those poor little babies are born, they'll find out that there's nothing fun about changing diapers, feeding in the middle of the night & getting puked on.
My best friend's daughter got pregnant at 16, had her little girl at 17 & got married last November shortly after she turned 18. She thought she'd get attention & it would be easy, she's already getting divorced, gave up her daughter to the daddy & is trying to get pregnant again. :(
Posted by: Dyane | June 22, 2008 4:01 PM
i wrote a blog about the same article. unbelievable how things like this still happen. and i agree, these people need a reality check.
Posted by: ams | June 23, 2008 10:11 AM