Have you heard about the 17 pregnant teenagers from Gloucester High School in Massachusetts?
I guess the girls made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. None of them are over the age of 16 (in fact all of them are 15, except for one 16 year-old) and one of them got knocked up by a 24 year-old (he's also homeless, but I think his age is the important thing, since it makes him a statutory rapist).
The high school provides day care for pregnant teens, which I suppose is a double-edged sword. Pregnant teens should be able to finish high school, but perhaps having the day care there enables them or encourages them.
Anyway, I'm pretty damn shocked by this. When I was in high school, people were already sexually active, but it was really uncool to get pregnant. Every pregnant mother dropped out of school (there were only two that I remember from my four years there) due to the enormous amount of ridicule they received. But, I did go to a fairly liberal, middle class high school...perhaps in the very Catholic fishing town of Gloucester, things are a bit different.
Still...17 pregnant teens in one year???
I thought I was pretty damn smart at 15 and I certainly thought I knew everything, but getting pregnant was NEVER an option then. I had romantic notions about everything, sure, but I was never under the illusion that having a baby would be all warm and fuzzy and sunshine and roses.
The Self-designed Student
- Amanda
- United States
- -I'm approaching 30 and I am an undergraduate for the second time in my life. I love it. -I like old stuff - like rocks and fossils - and the story of said old stuff. -I'm fascinated by the biological history of the human race and the evolutionary reasons for our behavior. -I love photography. I decided, recently, to do something about it and am the proud owner of a fancy digital SLR. -I live in a tiny apartment with my partner(J), his sister(C)and her cat (Zeus), and my cat (Emily). -I'm trying to live by these words: "You just have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves" - Mary Oliver. Some day, I'll get there.
What's up at Sb?
3 comments:
This one is just stunning, in a hugely horrified way. I have a 3 yo and its no picnic. At all. I love and adore her, but its an insane amount of work. if I were not already set, if I were in HS or in my early 20s, I'd have been screwed six ways from sunday.
We had one girl get pregnant and finish in my HS, but she still had a lot of less than warm feelings towards her condition.
I think it's bizarre that the girls all decided to get pregnant together...by the same homeless guy. THAT'S the wierdest part. But yeah, good luck with that whole potentially life-ruining deal, girls.
One million teens in the USA will become pregnant over the next twelve months. Ninety-five percent of those pregnancies are unintended. About one third will end in abortion; one third will end in spontaneous miscarriage; and one third will continue their pregnancy to term and keep their baby.
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