http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=601898

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Teen 'pregnancy pact' shocks Massachusetts city
Jason Szep,  Reuters
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008

BOSTON -- A Massachusetts city is investigating an apparent teenage "pregnancy pact" that has at least 17 high-school girls expecting babies, four times more than last year, including many aged 16 or younger.

A high school health clinic in the city of Gloucester became suspicious after seeing a surge in girls seeking pregnancy tests. Local officials said on Thursday nearly half of those who became pregnant appear to have entered into a pact to have their babies together over the year.

"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine, which broke news of the pact on its Web site.

Mr. Sullivan was not immediately available to comment. But local officials said at least some of the men involved in the pregnancies were in their mid-20s, including one man who appeared to be homeless. Others were boys in the school.

Carolyn Kirk, mayor of the port city 30 miles northeast of Boston, said authorities are looking at whether to pursue statutory rape charges. "We're at the very early stages of wrestling with the complexities of this problem," she said.

"But we also have to think about the boys. Some of these boys could have their lives changed. They could be in serious, serious trouble even if it was consensual because of their age -- not from what the city could do but from what the girls' families could do," she told Reuters.

Under Massachusetts law, it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.

"At the very least these men should be held responsible for financial support, if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested," Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester School Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Nationwide, teen pregnancies are showing signs of rising after steadily declining from 1991 to 2005. This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears' 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.

"The data seem to be indicating that the declines that we had seen through the 1990s are coming to a close," said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group focusing on reproductive issues.

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

Mr. Landry cautioned against attributing the trend 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.

In Gloucester, the 1,200-student school administered 150 pregnancy tests to students in the past academic year. The school forbids the distribution of condoms and other contraception without parental consent -- a rule that prompted the school's doctor and nurse to resign in protest in May.

"But even if we had contraceptives, that pact shows that if they wanted to get pregnant, they will get pregnant. Whether we distribute contraceptives is irrelevant," said Mr. Verga.

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"But even if we had contraceptives, that pact shows that if they wanted to get pregnant, they will get pregnant. Whether we distribute contraceptives is irrelevant," said Mr. Verga.

Will someone tell planned parenthood this!!! Our tax dollar at work, huh?

Should we be calling this Gloucester Compound, instead of public school?  After all, there are 17 underage pregnant children.  That's more than they found in the Texas Polygamist Community.  Those FLDS girls have nothin on the "liberated" women of Massachusetts.  The FLDS ought to consult with this school, and find out how they get away with underage pregnancy without the C.P.S. and the S.W.A.T. team breaking down their door.

This isn't a religious, cultural, ethnic sect we're talking about here. And no one is screaming abuse or forceable rape. These are just a bunch of lunatic, hormone driven teenage girls who made a 'choice' to get pregnant. Neither the parents, the schools, the government and yes even planned parenthood could have prevented this from happening.

Quoted from bumblethru

This isn't a religious, cultural, ethnic sect we're talking about here. And no one is screaming abuse or forceable rape. These are just a bunch of lunatic, hormone driven teenage girls who made a 'choice' to get pregnant. Neither the parents, the schools, the government and yes even planned parenthood could have prevented this from happening.

BUT---it is cultural----MTV CULTURAL, CABLE CULTURAL, STUDENT RIGHTS CULTURAL, HIPPY/YUPPY OFF-SPRING CULTURAL,PLANNED PARENTHOOD CULTURAL, VICTORIA SECRET CULTURAL, VIAGRA CULTURAL, JENNA JAMISON CULTURAL, CHRISTINA AGUILERA CULTURAL--------the list is endless......

It is religious-----the lack there of

It is ethnic----some promote motherhood over college

Ok then...it's a live and let live society. Let each and every culture, ethnic group, religious and social group do as they please. This is the land of the free. Practice any cultural or religious teaching you wish. Even if it is the Western culture. Then we should just all shut up!! Then let every teen get pregnant if they choose. Let same sex marriages happen if they choose. Let teens beat and kill homeless people. Let religious groups live behind stone walls. Let planned parenthood be on every corner. Let there be adult book stores in every community. It's their right....right?

That is fine with me. I will accept and respect that. And I will be a NIMBY....do as you please but NOT IN MY BACK YARD!!!!!!!!And I will expect all to ACCEPT AND REPECT me and the way I want to live....as a NIMBY!!

I certainly dont agree with it---but, they must have some kind of 'cultural' issues in their community there.....Schenectady schools doesn't talk about their teen pregnancies(it is a hell of alot more than Glouchester) active in school or otherwise.......I think the folks in Glouchester might have thought they had it all bundled up nice and tight.....but, I'm willing to bet that there are more than enough school districts with way bigger numbers that make Glouchester look like Mother Theresa......

show me the actual numbers---active and non-active students.....it's the age group we are concerned about right? not just the being in school issue,,,,if it was the school issue then by golly---there's a reason to fight the contracts..........they cant perform at that standard---never could, never will---it's the parents and the communities......no lawyers/arbitors/contracts needed..... :)

Quoted from bumblethru

Ok then...it's a live and let live society. Let each and every culture, ethnic group, religious and social group do as they please. This is the land of the free. Practice any cultural or religious teaching you wish. Even if it is the Western culture. Then we should just all shut up!! Then let every teen get pregnant if they choose. Let same sex marriages happen if they choose. Let teens beat and kill homeless people. Let religious groups live behind stone walls. Let planned parenthood be on every corner. Let there be adult book stores in every community. It's their right....right?

That is fine with me. I will accept and respect that. And I will be a NIMBY....do as you please but NOT IN MY BACK YARD!!!!!!!!And I will expect all to ACCEPT AND REPECT me and the way I want to live....as a NIMBY!!

I agree, with one exception.  This has nothing to do with me...until these girls all go on a government program to hand them money / food / health care because they're too poor to be able to afford it themselves.  As soon as it affects me in taxes, then it IS something that I have the right to speak up about.  What happens there stays there...until I have to pay for it.

Oh but it does have something to do with you now, whether you are paying through taxes or not. This is 'suppose' to be a civilized society. Instead people are behaving like animals. We all have a responsibility to society/community.

People who are against abortion, are so because they feel that it is a disregard for life...ALL LIFE! But to add insult to injury for these anti-abortionists, they have to pay for abortions through their tax dollar. Even if they didn't, they would STILL be against it. Get my drift here?

So are you saying that this behavior is acceptable as long as it isn't coming out of your pocket and costing YOU anything monetarily?

It's not acceptable to me, in fact, there's a chance of criminal charges for the same thing in some states.  I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to be footing the bill in the end for other people's screw-ups.  I don't expect people to pay my bills, why should I pay theirs?  

Your attitude, your bill.  If you don't want me making a determination on your actions, don't let me know about it and ESPECIALLY don't make me pay for it.

Gee Kevin, people who are able to work but won't and collect welfare must really tick you off, I know it does me.

People need to start being responsible for themselves. But we don't live in a country where the government enforces this behavior. Instead they support it with more taxpaid government programs.