of 17 teenaged girls at gloucester high makes pact to get pregnant together

Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High: A group of teen-aged girls, 17 in all, at Gloucester High made a pregnancy pact pledging to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

The Gloucester Daily Times reports

The news that 10 Gloucester High students were pregnant became public in March, and that number — as reported to the clinic staff — is now 17. Teen pregnancy, long on the decline across the country, is on the upswing nationally for the first time in 15 years, national statistics show. The situation in Gloucester — which normally deals with about four pregnancies per school year, officials have said — has reached what Orr calls epidemic proporations.

Other links:
- Gloucester High teens involved in pregnancy pact
- "Pregnancy Pact" at Gloucester High School finds 17 Girls to Give Birth Over Summer Vacation! Nickelodeon and Zoey 101 have Not Commented!
- Massachusetts High School Faces Pregnancy Boom

[via Jezebel]