Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High
Thu, 2008-06-19 23:04 - Niels
from: time.com
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
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Gloucester Teens Had Pact To Get Pregnant
from: wbztv.com
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (WBZ) ? There's a stunning twist to the sudden rise in teen pregnancies at Gloucester High School. Seventeen students there are expecting and many of them became that way on purpose.
Time Magazine first reported that nearly half of the girls confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. None of them is older than 16.
Schools Superintendent Christopher Farmer told WBZ's Bill Shields Thursday the girls had "an agreement to get pregnant."
Farmer said these are generally "girls who lack self-esteem and have a lack of love in their life."
"The common threat is the lack of self-esteem and purpose in life, and a lack of a sense of direction," said Farmer. "Young women wanting and needing affection."
Principal Joseph Sullivan has not returned calls from WBZ for comment.
Sullivan told the magazine that the pact wasn't the only shocking incident.
"We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," he told Time.
Last month, two top officials at the high school's health center resigned in a fight over contraceptives distribution.
Medical Director Dr. Brian Orr and chief nurse practitioner Kim Daly support confidentially giving contraceptives to students. They were outraged about resistance from Addison Gilbert Hospital, which administers the state public health grant that funds the school clinic.
Normally, the school has about four pregnancies per school year.
According to Time, school officials started looking into the spike in pregnancies after an unusual number of girls came to the school clinic for pregnancy tests. Some came by several times.
"Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan told the magazine.
The pregnant girls and their parents turned down requests to be interviewed.
A recent graduate who had a baby during her freshman year told Time she knows why the girls wanted to get pregnant.
"They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Amanda Ireland, 18, said. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."
Ireland also spoke with WBZ about her young pregnancy.
"I don't call it a mistake because the way I look at is everything happens for a reason," Ireland said. "But, no, she was not planned."
WBZ has also tried to contact Mayor Carolyn Kirk and Public Health Director Jack Vondras. Both are said to be out of town this week.
Beyond the social implications of the pregnancies, there are some legal questions being asked, including whether the men who fathered the babies will face charges of statutory rape
The Vulture has Landed
from: gloucestertimes.com
Adoption is an important option
New life is a wonderful thing, but raising a child requires, in most cases, more than a high school student can handle.
I am writing from a town outside of Chicago in hopes that any of these children, having children, might understand how hard life is, without adding to their challenges, and offer their children up for adoptions. As a happily married couple without children, my husband and I would be honored to raise any of these newborn children in a stable, loving environment — as many other couples would, too.
The decision to conceive is an easy one, but conception does not make a father, mother or family — it is but one part of the chain.
Another part of the chain is responsibility. A child still thinks mostly about himself or herself. The passage into adulthood requires the ability to look at a broader picture, and sacrifice for the good of most. Not every child needs a "perfect" childhood, full of every opportunity available. But children do need so much more than one 16, 17 year old high school young adult can usually give.
Giving up your child for adoption is a courageous, noble and wise deicision. Contact a service in your area, or me at rhondasmailbox@comcast.net.
Good luck in whatever decision you make. The gift of new life is a treasure.
Rhonda Dehn
Chicago
Total Arrogance
Where did you find this?
Can we post a retort there?
Where the vulture circles
I updated my comment and added the source. You can certainly post there. At this moment already 49 comments have been placed, some of them thoughtful, some downright nasty and mean.
thanks
i'll try and form something cogent and post.
Posted
Not as timely as I'd like, but it's up there!
As a mother and an adoptee, I find Ms. Dehn's comments sanctimonious and arrogant.
Parenthood is a new and challenging experience for everyone, regardless of ones age or position. Nobody knows how one will handle this challenge until faced with it.
As a very young mother, the profound responsibility of raising a child became a mandate and a challenge that I rose to. I have known successful career women who have waited until their circumstances were perfect, only to find themselves to be poorly equipped emotionally to handle being responsible for anyone but themselves.
It is seriously arrogant to think that you, Ms. Dehn, have more love to give the birth mother. And what you deem as your greater worthiness is based on the assumption that good parenting has everything to do with the correctness of the lessons you congratulate yourself on learning. When actually, you are just as ignorant in child rearing as these birth mothers. And if you explore your reasons for wanting to take these children away from their flesh and blood, heritage and extended families, you might uncover a happily married childless woman every bit as self centered and childish as these young mothers.
Raising children is a process that parent and child undertake together. While better circumstances are certainly helpful, sometimes sharing struggles can create a stronger bond. This is certainly the truth in my case. My baby gave me unconditional love for the first time ever and saved my life.
I think it's just vulture-like of you, who are privileged, to want to steal that opportunity away from others less fortunate.
If you care so much about children, adopt a special needs child or a child waiting in foster care or contribute to programs which help assist birth mothers. Stop shopping for other people's babies.