Teen Girls Made Pact to Get Pregnant

21-06-2008 - 01:27

Joseph Sullivan, the principal of Gloucester High School in Massachusetts was puzzled. Typically, about four of the girls in his school get pregnant each year, but this school year there were 17 pregnant girls. What was happening? His investigation resulted in a chilling confession: About half of those girls, none of whom are even 16 years old, had made a pact to get pregnant so they could raise their babies together.

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Sullivan told TIME magazine that the girls came to the school health clinic multiple times to get pregnancy tests, noting they "seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were." When they found out they were pregnant, some of the reacted by giving high-fives and making plans for baby showers. One of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless man, Sullivan told TIME.

What do you think of the pregnancy pact? Do you think it's a trend that could spread to more schools and more states? Share your thoughts in the Women's Forum.

Superintendent Christopher Farmer confirmed the story to WBZ-TV, acknowledging the girls had "an agreement to get pregnant." He described them as "girls who lack self-esteem and have a lack of love in their life." A former Gloucester High School student, Christen Callahan, had a baby when she was 15, and some of the girls asked her about her pregnancy. Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Callahan said, "They would say stuff like, oh, I think my parents would be fine with it and they would help me, stuff like that." 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 added.

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