US probes teen 'pregnancy pact'

Maid Marian · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:29 am Post subject: US probes teen 'pregnancy pact'

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Officials in the US state of Massachusetts are investigating how 17 teenage girls from the same school have become pregnant.

The number is four times as high as the year before at Gloucester High School.

There are reports that some of the girls - none of whom is older than 16 - entered into a pact to have their babies together.

The girls and their families have so far made no comment. Officials are also investigating the ages of the fathers.

Some are believed to be in their twenties and could face the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors.

It is illegal to have sex with anyone younger than 16 in Massachusetts.

Disturbing

Some of the school's own staff believe the sharp increase in the number of pregnancies was no accident.

"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine.

Local officials say that nearly half of the girls had entered into a bizarre pact to have their babies together.

Dr Elizabeth Guthrie, a paediatric psychiatrist at New York's Columbia University, told the BBC that said some girls might be viewing pregnancy as a fast-track to adulthood and independence.

"It may give you an opportunity for unconditional love and attention from the baby," she said.

Local teenager Amanda Ireland, a mother who just graduated from Gloucester High School, offered a blunt warning to other girls.

"Don't try to get pregnant. People say they know what it's like because they have younger siblings, but they really have no idea," she told the BBC.

David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based non-profit group focusing on reproductive issues, said the declining teenage pregnancy rate of recent years appears to be reversing.

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

This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears' 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of a popular television show Zoey 101 gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.

But Mr Landry cautioned against attributing the pact or the worrying statistics to Hollywood following the recent hit movie Juno, in which a teenager gets pregnant and decides to have the baby, and Knocked Up, a comedy about a one-night stand.

"The trend emerged before those movies," he said.

Source - BBC

Kellie · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:10 pm Post subject:

We heard this on GMTV this morning, its terrible isnt it and they obviously dont realise just how hard it is having a baby

frys_red_jacket · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject:

i heard this on the news like 5 mins ago, i can't believe it yah5.gif

MrsBelch · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

People need to stop talking about this. It will make teens think its cool to be preggo. If I get knocked up maybe I can be on the news too. nono.gif

tellconer · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject:

girls they are beyond me, but i do beleive that children are not allowed to be children if that makes any sense for long enough, and yes if the fathers are in their twenties then they should face a rape charge.

Maid Marian · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:03 pm Post subject: