"Pregnancy Pact": 17 Girls Pregnant at the Same High School

A small fishing town in Massachusetts is coming to terms with the news that 17 teenaged girls at the local high school are pregnant, almost half of them having entered a pact to have babies and raise the children collectively.

The head, Joseph Sullivan, told Time magazine that some of the girls seemed upset when they received negative results. Others reacted to positive test results with high fives, talking about how they would hold a celebration for the baby.
Christopher Farmer, the school superintendent, said inquiries were started when the number reached 10. "They are young white women. We understand that some of them were together talking about being pregnant and that being a positive thing for them," he told Associated Press.
The disclosure of the pact, and reports that one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless man, has sparked a spirited debate in Gloucester about teenaged sex. In May the medical director and nurse at the school clinic resigned in protest at the refusal of the local hospital that controls their funds to allow them to distribute contraceptives to pupils without parental consent.