What The F**K????????

[SteelClip49]

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/teens-pregnancy-pact-shocks-town/20080619211609990001


CBS News
Posted: 2008-06-19 21:52:59
Filed Under: Nation News
(June 19) It's news that has people talking in the sleepy fishing village of Gloucester, Massachusetts, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

"I think it's awful," one woman says. "They're kids having kids."

Seventeen girls at Gloucester High School not only got pregnant, but according to some, it was no accident.

"Pregnancy was the desired outcome," school superintendent Christopher Farmer says.

"So they did it on purpose?" Miller asks.

"That's what it sounds like, yes," Farmer says.

School officials discovered the pregnancy pact after some girls seemed disappointed that their pregnancy tests from the school nurse came back negative.

"They will have a baby as part of their life to give them status," Farmer says. "motherhood gives them status."

Status in Gloucester is hard to come by. The once thriving fishing community has seen jobs drift overseas. Economic depression has left many teens trying to fill the void.

"It sort of gives you the impression of being an adult, an independent. It may give you an opportunity for unconditional love and attention from the baby and also that you give to the baby," Dr. Elisabeth Guthrie, a pediatric psychiatrist, says.

According to the superintendent, all the girls were 16 or younger. Most of the fathers weren't in high school and at least one of them was a 24-year-old man.

Amanda Ireland, mother of 3-year-old Haley, just graduated from Gloucester High. She says she's tried to warn her peers about the tough road ahead.

"Don't, don't try to get pregnant," she says. "People say, 'I know what it's like because I have siblings.' But you really don't. No one knows until they actually go through it. And it's a lot of work."

School officials have their work cut for them. They are now considering a plan to provide birth control services in the high school next fall.

Their biggest challenge is how to change the mindset in some of the girls who come here.

[olevetonahill]

Universal Health care, Welfare and Food stamps !

[Blue]

Give me that check!

[Chuck Bao]

I've recently heard the same from high school girls in Oklahoma. They didn't care who the father is/was, they just wanted to get pregnant. I didn't understand then. That article helps explain some of it, but I still don't understand now.

[StoopTroup]

Girls who want teh secs....what's so wrong with that? ;)

[soonermix]

the girls wanting teh secs doesn't bother me its the 24 year old baby daddy

[Taxman71]

Easily the best day that 24 year old homeless guy has had in a long, long time.....until he gets sued by DHS for child support.

[Boomer.....]

All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.

I found this from another article

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

[yermom]

where is this again?

i knew a girl in elementary school who reportedly intentionally got pregnant the next year when she went to middle school, at 12 (20 years ago)

[mdklatt]

i knew a girl in elementary school who reportedly intentionally got pregnant the next year when she went to middle school, at 12 (20 years ago)


OKC > Owasso :D

[mdklatt]

School officials have their work cut for them. They are now considering a plan to provide birth control services in the high school next fall.

If the girls want to get pregnant, I don't think this is going to help.

[yermom]

that was Tulsa, actually. i didn't move to Owasso until high school

she was the teacher's pet kinda girl. it was weird

[r5TPsooner]

So much for **** buddies.

[GrapevineSooner]

If the girls want to get pregnant, I don't think this is going to help.

Nope.

No amount of contraception that the school could offer will do anything to deter these girls.

I suppose you could educate them, but they'd have to have a willingness to listen.

Hopefully in about 6 months to a year, these girls will realize they made a tremendous mistake. And if it's unconditional love they were looking for, my advice to them would have been, "Go get a puppy."

[mdklatt]

that was Tulsa, actually. i didn't move to Owasso until high school

OKC > Tulsa :pop:

It shouldn't be illegal to shake kids around and slap some sense into them. Anybody under the age of 18 is functionally retarded. Maybe we need to go completely over to the boarding school model for education, to keep the little bastards away from us until they stop acting like idiots. Unisex schools also make it more difficult to get pregnant.

[yermom]

there are worse things than being pregnant... but yeah, they need to have some kind of reality exposed to these girls, and before they are 16

[M]

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g258/DixieChickMissy/babyborrowers.jpg

[mdklatt]

there are worse things than being pregnant...

Yeah, the 18 years afterwards. :D

[RFH Shakes]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a188/rfhshakes/homeless.jpg

[NormanPride]

I knew girls back at that age that dreamed of nothing but having kids. I figured it was just a matter of time before those types of girls just took the plunge instead of talking about it.

Honestly, if the government stopped propping these people up, they'd just fall over and maybe others wouldn't repeat their failures. It's heartless but it's also the only way we learn.

[boomersooner28]

secs is the awesome. the end.

[Viking Kitten]

I knew girls back at that age that dreamed of nothing but having kids. I figured it was just a matter of time before those types of girls just took the plunge instead of talking about it.

Honestly, if the government stopped propping these people up, they'd just fall over and maybe others wouldn't repeat their failures. It's heartless but it's also the only way we learn.

You know... we've recently had a teenage pregnancy in our extended family. This probably sounds really mean-spirited and judgemental, but honest to God, watching everybody fawn over the unwed mother really p**sed me off. She knew perfectly G**damn well she does not have the means to take care of a child, nor the desire really, as she pawns the baby off on her own mother, with whom she's still living, so she can go out ho-ing as often as she can. She gets all kinds of money from the state for this too. Then she plays the "I'm a mommy, where are you all taking me for Mother's Day dinner?" card.

And don't get me started on the father either. He needs to have his balls chopped off. He's knocked up five different girls in the small town this family lives in. He supports none of them and has nothing to do with any of the children. He's 19, the youngest girl was 15, making it statutory rape, if I'm not mistaken, yet none of the parents have done anything about it. JEBUS CHRISTO, MY DAD WOULD HAVE SHOT THE LITTLE F**KER.

I guess the point is I agree with NP that we as a society have become far too tolerant of this sort of thing. Accidents happen, teenagers get pregnant, I understand that. But when somebody is unprepared to care for a child, put the kid up for adoption. If they think they can handle it, great. Get married and support the kid. If they don't want to do that, they shouldn't be able to expect everyone to be overjoyed.

Again, like NP says, I know very well that sounds mean and heartless. But dang, unless everybody stops being so nice about it, what reasons do these girls have to stop squirting out kids? And yes, of course I realize some single mothers do a fine job of raising their children. But these are usually the ones who are responsible and set good examples for the children by immediately going to work (or college) to support their families. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of young, unwed mothers do not fall into that category and it becomes a self perpetuating problem. I am not advocating letting children starve, mind you. I am just saying a little shame and scorn might be a good thing.

Dang, rant off. I think I've offended myself at this point. :D

[royalfan5]

This thread reminds me of when we got those "baby think it over" dolls in Home Ec in high school. All it did was make the easy girls want a kid even more.

[mdklatt]

It's a tough call. How do you punish the little sluts without punishing the kids? I guess the state needs to exercise its prerogative more and take away kids from unfit parents. Ain't no way is a 15-year-old a fit parent. But does that punish the mother or the baby? Mandatory sterilization for serial knocker-uppers--I like this in theory, but implementing it would get problematic. You know, the Constitution and all that. Still, there have to be consequences for fathering a child, whether or not the mother wants child support. Maybe if the mother doesn't sue for child support, the state should take that money instead to support foster care or something.

[Okla-homey]

I believe, completely, that illegitimacy is a scourge that we must tackle or at least line-up against. Statistically, there is no stronger indicator of future and prolonged poverty for both mom and child.

It's a tough nut to crack. We don't want to demonize the moms or turn them into pariahs, but we must somehow make it less socially acceptable. Today, there is apparently very little disincentive to children having babies. In fact, as this story points out, there are significant motivators working against us.

i.e. Teen has baby girl out of wedlock. Baby girl reaches puberty. Lather, rinse, repeat. In short, a viscious cycle that spins off into poverty and stays there.

Frankly, this is a far greater social problem than that posed by illegal immigration, the war, and the cost of gas.

[OklahomaRed]

I was watching this on the news last night and they were attempting to spin this that the community did not allow the counselors to discuss contraception with the students.

I thought to myself, "If these girls 'wanted' to get pregnant, how would telling them about rubbers and the pill help the situation?"

My second thought was, "If these little heifers didn't get free prenatal care, free delivery, and free foodstamps and healthcare for their fatherless children, then they might be a little more hesitant to bring another kiddo into this world?" :confused:

[royalfan5]

I was watching this on the news last night and they were attempting to spin this that the community did not allow the counselors to discuss contraception with the students.

I thought to myself, "If these girls 'wanted' to get pregnant, how would telling them about rubbers and the pill help the situation?"

My second thought was, "If these little heifers didn't get free prenatal care, free delivery, and free foodstamps and healthcare for their fatherless children, then they might be a little more hesitant to bring another kiddo into this world?" :confused:

That's assuming that they would even bother to consider the monetary cost. I don't think money ever crosses the mind of a teenage girl that wants a kid.

[NormanPride]

Exactly. But a few of their friends doing it first would show them pretty quick how much life changes after having kids. One kid screws up in a school of 1000, and word gets around pretty fast that she's no fun anymore.

Then, the next generation learns a little bit. Maybe there's half the teen pregnancies... After that, less. Of course, this doesn't tackle unwanted teen pregnancies. Some people are stupid, or unlucky, and this would punish them as well.

Oh well. If you're not ready to have a kid, don't ****.

[badger]

Hey, don't blame this generation, you... Baby Boomers :D

[soonerscuba]

17? Isn't that called junior year at Owasso?

[yermom]

:confused:

[Scott D]

17? Isn't that called junior year at Owasso?

third junior year.

[soonerscuba]

:confused:
I had some friends at Owasso, they said there was a seperate offsite building for all the preggers.

[StoopTroup]

I like the fact that they are keeping their babies instead of having them sucked out.
I'm funny that way.

I'll take the illegitimacy problem over the abortion.

I wish we had better answers / solutions for both.

[Okla-homey]

My grandfather, born in Lone Grove I.T. before statehood used to say: they oughta put that birth control stuff in the public water supply and make folks apply for the antidote.

He was a very wise old d00d.

[yermom]

I like the fact that they are keeping their babies instead of having them sucked out.
I'm funny that way.

I'll take the illegitimacy problem over the abortion.

I wish we had better answers / solutions for both.

i'm with you on that

still, someone's parents failed somewhere


i'll bet the homeless population is about to explode as well :D

[r5TPsooner]

Do what the Chinese do and put a limit on the number of kids a woman can have.

In a teenagers case... one and done!

[yermom]

I had some friends at Owasso, they said there was a seperate offsite building for all the preggers.

ok, yeah. i'm with you now

apparently they put the pressure on pregnant girls to go to "alternative school" when they got knocked up

[Okla-homey]

Some guy I read back in grad school in a sociology course, can't remember who exactly, asserted that historically, when a population passes 50% illegitimacy in its annual live births, it's curtains. That culture simply cannot recover until there's a societal "reboot" via disaster, plague or conquest that kills a lot of people off.

makes sense.

[yermom]

it really should be more of a stigma to be a deadbeat dad, but there is also more to it than paying the child support bill