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.

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New Jersey signed a bill into law on Wednesday requiring all pregnant women to be tested for HIV, unless they object. The law also requires newborns be tested if the HIV status of the mother is unknown. Michigan, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee have similar laws to New Jersey regarding the testing of pregnant women. Only New York, Connecticut and Illinois currently have mandatory testing of newborns. The measure is meant to decrease the number of newborn infections by prescribing HIV positive mothers antiretroviral drugs and delivering by C-section.

In case you haven’t hear yet, Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.Yes, the little 16-year old sis of Britney Spears is going to have a baby. The dad is 19-year-old Mississippi native Casey Aldridge whom Jamie Lynn has been dating.Apparently she told OK! Magazine “I was in complete and total shock and so was he. As soon as I found out for sure from the doctor, I took two weeks to myself where I didn’t tell anybody. Only one of my friends knew because I needed to work outwhat I would do for myself before I let anyone’s opinion affect my decision. Then I told my parents and my friends. I was scared, but I had to do what was right for me.”Oh how I do feel for the girl.Now before I join the masses of bloggers, comedians and social commentators in making a bunch of crappy Spears mothering skills jokes, I just want to make note again that the girl is only 16 and the baby daddy is 19. While I have many mixed feelings on statutory rape (I mean, rape? Can you really use that word when it’s consensual?) according to the law in Louisiana it’s crime to have sexual intercourse with consent between (1) someone age 19 or older and someone between age 12 and 17.Yikes! I guess they don’t teach safe sex at Zoey 101 .Oh my, I bet this pregnancy thing this is direct result of Zoey being on the first girls in a formerly all-boys boarding school.And now for a little walk down pre-preggers lane with the Spears sisters.I guess Jamie isn’t so different than Britney.But seriously Spears family, please, please, please buy some condoms.For info on safe sex and birth control visit plannedparenthood.org

Much like Weeble Wobbles pregnant women don’t topple over as we may expect they would considering they are carrying a heavy human in their stomach.   Well in case the miracle of birth didn’t wow you enough, check out this article about how women’s bodies evolve more spine while pregnant thus keeping mommy-to-be’s from falling over.