Pact or not, 18 teenage pregnancies is alarming
Marjorie Cortez
The mayor of Gloucester, Mass., says there is no evidence a group of young girls entered a "pregnancy pact," intending to raise their babies together, according to The Associated Press. Gloucester High School Principal Joseph Sullivan, the lone source for the claims, was "foggy" in his memory of how he came to believe there was a pact.
"When pressed, his memory failed," said Mayor Carolyn Kirk.
It's hard to know what to believe. Why would a school principal say something like this to a reporter for Time magazine? You'd think that a principal's instinct, above all, would be to protect his students.
Worse, why would a major news magazine run with the story with so little corroboration?
Since the principal wasn't invited to a meeting with city officials on Monday, it appears that he's been thrown under the bus by the rest of the community. After all, this may be the mother of all public relations problems for Gloucester. Who wants to be known as the town with a "pregnancy pact"?
The furor over the so-called pact is the least of this community's worries. The community's focus needs to be on 18 confirmed pregnancies at the local high school, according to The Gloucester Times.
How did we get to this place? A generation ago, there was profound shame about teen and out-of-wedlock births. In my mother's generation, girls who got pregnant were practically shunned by their communities. They were sent away to live with relatives or homes for unwed mothers.
Some communities, such as Gloucester, go so far as to offer an in-school child-care center, with the aim of helping the young mothers graduate from high school. Other communities have separate schools for teenage mothers. Others receive little support in their neighborhood schools.
Without support from family, a church or friends, I don't begin to understand how teenage moms would do it all. I remember feeling tired and overwhelmed after the birth of my first child, and I was 29. My husband and I had good incomes, so we weren't stressed about the cost of diapers and other baby needs and wants. I can't begin to imagine bringing a child into the world without that sense of security.
Yet I don't know how to put the genie back in the bottle. I can't think of a single upside to teenage pregnancy or out-of-wedlock births. With the former, mom forfeits her childhood. Baby gets a mother who is ill-prepared to handle such a huge responsibility. With the latter, it is far from a sure thing that both parents will be equally invested in the child. The child, who has no control over his or her circumstances, deserves better.
Recent comments
18 teenage pregancies are not alarming. What is alarming is that...
Anonymous | June 24, 2008 at 2:27 p.m.
White women having babies?
I didn't think white women had...
Steve Real | June 24, 2008 at 4:40 a.m.
