US probes teen 'pregnancy pact'

[Tokis-Phoenix]

"Officials in the US state of Massachusetts are investigating how 17 teenage girls from the same school have become pregnant.

The number is four times as high as the year before at Gloucester High School.

There are reports that some of the girls - none of whom is older than 16 - entered into a pact to have their babies together.

The girls and their families have so far made no comment. Officials are also investigating the ages of the fathers.

Some are believed to be in their twenties and could face the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors.

It is illegal to have sex with anyone younger than 16 in Massachusetts.";

Full story;

BBC NEWS | Americas | US fears of teen 'pregnancy pact'


Its ridiculous how stupid and naive these girls are...They have thousands of pounds spent on them so that they can have an education and a good life, and they then decide that they can't be bothered with all that and decide that getting pregnant is a better way to achieving adulthood/love/whatever. I'm sure if any of these girls really knew what they were in for once they got pregnant, none of them would have gotten pregnant at all.

Its really sad, that increasingly in British and American society girls see getting pregnant as a ticket to a better life.

IMHO, a lot more needs to be done in American and British societies with school education concerning pregnancy and child raising (which is something that tends not to be taught that much about). Teen mothers should be brought into schools to give talks on how difficult it really is being a teen mother, and girls should be given those realistic educational crying baby dolls to look after- guys also need to be taught more about the responsibilities of sex and its consequences, and that he has just as much responsibility as the girl over what happens when he gets a girl pregnant.

I really feel for these girls parents right now in particular, i expect they feel disheartened/broken and ashamed at what their daughters have decided to do, they probably feel like they have failed their daughters.

 

[Anohito]

This subject is a potential mine field! Oh well, here goes.

I don't know how it is in Britain, but I think that at least in the USA girls (non-adult females) see mixed messages in American culture. On the one hand, they are usually told not to have sex until they are married, but on the other hand, they are surrounded by the message (at least implied, if not directly stated) that babies are just wonderful! cute! cuddly! fulfilling! etc. Not nearly enough is told them about the grave responsibilities that being a parent incurs.

Another part of the problem is that certain theological/political elements in the USA are vehemently opposed to any meaningful education of minors about sexual matters. Such elements basically insist "No sex before marriage! Not ever!" Well, those people have been peddling that line for nearly two thousand years and the results are still as bad as ever. Unfortunately, I don't see any improvement of the situation in the USA as long as such elements have the undeserved influence they currently enjoy.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I agree, America's abstinence education policies are failing and have been so for a long time. With some 750,000 teenage pregnancies a year, America has one of the highest teen birth rates in the developed world;

BBC NEWS | Americas | Has US abstinence policy failed?

Apart from problems with young teenage girls getting pregnant, STD's are also becoming rife amongst such girls too- at least one in four teenage girls in the US has a sexually transmitted disease, a study finds;

BBC NEWS | Americas | STDs rife among US teenage girls


I don't have any statistics or studies at hand over what is happening in England, however i can say that the situation over here with problems with teen pregnancies and STD's is not unlike what is happening in America. However, over here part of the problem is down to our easy benefit culture, with the government giving free housing and handouts of money to single teen mothers, it makes it all too easy for teenagers to shag around and get each other pregnant and then be given a nice government council house and monthly payments (intended to help prevent the kids going on the streets etc).

I think more down to earth practical and realistic advice and information needs to be taught to American youth instead of the government allowing strict Christians to preach their bible abstinence rubbish to young teenagers in school.