I’m sure most people have heard by now of the 17 pregnant girls at Gloucester High School. Yes, that’s 17 soon-to- be-moms all under age 17! Many of the expectant teenage moms confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. One girl even fessed up that the father of her unborn child is a 24-year-old homeless guy! A homeless guy! Whatever happen to the days when teens avoided getting knocked up? Why are children purposefully having children?
School Superintendent Christopher Farmer told CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller the teens feel, “Motherhood gives them status.”
“It sort of gives you the impression of being an adult, an independent. It may give you an opportunity for unconditional love and attention from the baby and also that you give to the baby,” Dr. Elisabeth Guthrie, a pediatric psychiatrist, observed to Miller. [CBS News]
Of course there are those folks who argue that it’s the fault of the media for “glamourizing” pregnancy.
The recent movies “Juno,” which won an Oscar, and “Knocked Up,” both deal with teen pregnancy and appear to take away the stigma,” correspondent Miller says. [CBS News]
Okay wait, Knocked Up didn’t deal with teen pregnancy, it dealt with a grown woman getting pregnant after having a one night stand. And Juno didn’t take away the stigma of teen pregnancy, it just showed a genuine side of teen pregnancy not often displayed in film. I don’t think its as simple as blaming films for this fiasco.
And some are pointing fingers at the tabloids. Yes, currently our culture has a disgusting obsession with celebrity motherhood. But all the blame can’t be put on magazines for showcasing Nicole Richies baby bump. There is clearly a larger problem made these Gloucester girls think having a baby at age 16 is a good idea. Seems to me like a lack of self-esteem combined with a lack of adequate knowledge is the main culprit. According to Time Magazine’s site birth control for teens in Gloucester was met with resistance.
…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. [Time]
So now what? Will the Gloucester teen pregnancy pact inspire other teens in other towns to follow suit? Or will this hopefully signal to parents and school officials that something, somewhere needs to change in order to raise young girls with better self-esteem and self-awareness?
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Education • Global Health
Related Links:
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Tagged as:bith control • Brian Orr • Carolyn Kirk • CBS news • Christopher Farmer • Elisabeth Gurthie • Gloucester teens • Juno • Knocked Up • Nicole Richie • Planned Parenthood • Pregnancy • pregnancy club • pregnancy pact • teen pregnancy • time magazine
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23 posts in the last 24 hours
To blame hollywood is completely shortsighted and just plain wrong. Neither of these movies glamorizes pregnancy at all. There is this new show coming on soon called Baby Borrowers. I’m sure folks will find some fault with the show rather than praise it, if it indeed has a decent message.
RobI, too, am going to have to agree with the above statement…. to an extent. Who needs a parent when you have a television? Most of our children watch it far to much to say that the mass media has nothing to do with it. I think we should be blaming ourselves for letting children become brainwashed by main stream society.
KendallWell said, Kendall.
RobThis whole situation infuriates me. These girls got pregnant - on purpose - and who exactly is going to pay to raise these children? I will, and you will, and every taxpayer in the country will. It’s time for people to get real. If young women, still in high school, get pregnant on purpose and they can’t support themselves or their baby, that’s their problem. I’m sick of losing half my paycheck to pay for other people’s bad decisions. I hope these girls have a rude awakening.
JaymeOpen Invitation to all teen pregnancy pact members: move and live in Costa Rica where single moms have thrived and have been accepted by society for more than 200 years. While the reactions have been controversial and of alarm, single moms have flourished in Costa Rica for generations. The word “bastard” child disappeared here many generations ago. Our society has never discriminated single moms for one simple reason: our general profound, unconditional love and acceptance of children in general and those born out of wedlock.
Free social medicine, financial assistance and a welcome awaits single Moms here. The unconditional acceptance of children here has helped to influence this country in becoming the world’s leading peaceful nation which eliminated our military since 1948. This country has placed unconditional love of humanity over social stigma, reverted excessive imporatance on moral issues and eliminated the discrimination that comes with single mom children. To the teen pact members: I congratulate you on your decision which will prove once and forever that age does not matter if you are certain that there is no greater love than the one a child will give to us and the love will will have for them, our children and all the children of the world. An old wise saying has circulated here for generations: “A newborn baby is always born with a loaf of bread under their arm.” It is a hopeful sign of our times that some people still place the love for children above the current self-love trend. “Viva los niños ya que son el futuro.” Long live our children, they are our future. So if you wish to leave in peace and without controversy and descrimination welcome to Costa Rica.
Carlos Jimenez Freer