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Pregnancy Pact?
Posted by SMM
on
16:00
There are 17 expectant mothers. The expectant mothers are teens, none older than 16, in Gloucester High School in a Massachusetts fishing town. This is 4 times the number of pregnancies the school had in the previous year. The School Principal has mentioned a pact made by the teens wherein they all agreed to get pregnant and raise their children together. Girls started coming in for pregnancy tests in October and on hearing the results some girls were upset that they weren't pregnant. This strictly Catholic town is apparently not very keen on contraceptives and birth cntrol methods being made readily available. They were highly opposed to contraceptives being handed out in schools. Another thing of note is that the economy of the town, which was majorly dependant on the fishing industry has now been mostly banglored, as a result of which many families have now broken apart. These girls have probably been pulled apart in the intra-parent politics or had to contend with neither parent wanting them.
The school has a creche within the premises. Strollers dot the halls.
Sex-ed classes for the freshmen. The school has definitely done a good jobof supporting young teenage mothers, and maybe even encouraging them.
The town people seem to have finally woken up not because of the teen pregnancies or the rising number, but because the teens entered into a pact and decided to get pregnant and raise their children together. Makes sense to me. If mother can' stop screaming and father can't get off his bottle, I would much rather be with friends rather than family. Makes sense to build up a support system within friends rather than depend on the moods and whims of unsupportive parents. I'd rather bring up my child among a group of like-minded people who also happen to be my friends, rather than a broken family. Dos it sound surprising or shocking? Not to me.
What however does sound surprising to me is that the town has made no attempt to teach its children to practice safe sex (in more ways than one)? The town is pretty much opposed to contraceptives, but has no problem if their 16 year old daughter becomes a mother, and probably does not know who is the father? The town is opposed to the idea of the girls forming a pact to get pregnant and raise their children together, but the girls know that sometime or the other they will get pregnant and they'r smart enough to acknowledge that they need a suppot system. Raising a child as a single unwed mother with not much education is very very tough.
Maybe instead of looking into the reason behind the pregnancies, the town and the school should look into reducing the incidence of teen pregnancies.
What however does sound surprising to me is that the town has made no attempt to teach its children to practice safe sex (in more ways than one)? The town is pretty much opposed to contraceptives, but has no problem if their 16 year old daughter becomes a mother, and probably does not know who is the father? The town is opposed to the idea of the girls forming a pact to get pregnant and raise their children together, but the girls know that sometime or the other they will get pregnant and they'r smart enough to acknowledge that they need a suppot system. Raising a child as a single unwed mother with not much education is very very tough.
Maybe instead of looking into the reason behind the pregnancies, the town and the school should look into reducing the incidence of teen pregnancies.
