You know what would be fun? If we all got pregnant after midterms.

[CalMeacham]

If these weren’t middle-class white girls, would this still be a story?

No question – sixteen high school girls pregnant at the same time? And nothing like this in previous years? The color of the girls is irrelevant.

[Scoundrel_Swanswater]

@Drain Bead

If these weren’t middle-class white girls, would this still be a story?

Of course, why would that make a difference?
Or are you trying to infer that poor black girls pop out babies like rabbits?

[Argent_Towers]

@Drain Bead

If these weren’t middle-class white girls, would this still be a story?

Middle-class?

@CBS

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.

@Time

The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community’s wherewithal. “Families are broken,” says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. “Many of our young people are growing up directionless.”

There are white people who are poor. These girls are doing exactly what their ancestors in Wexford or Cork did 150 years ago - you have a baby when you’re young, and it gives you a place in life, a role to fill.

[Liberal]

That’s nice. But what does it do for the baby?

[Contrapuntal]

@Liberal

That’s nice. But what does it do for the baby?

Narrows it’s horizons, for one.

[Argent_Towers]

Hey, I’m not saying it’s the greatest situation. But in a world where people feel like they have no role, no place in society, being a mother (however young) is a clearly defined position in life that someone can occupy and feel like they have something that matters. In an existential way, it is filling a void in these girls’ lives.

That’s one way of looking at it. Another is that they are just a bunch of irresponsible girls who are jumping headfirst into a situation which could easily become unmanageable.

[neutron_star]

@astro

\It simply does not (to me) make sense only any level whatsoever that some cadre of teenage girls have embraced the concept of deliberately having out of wedlock babies sans husbands. It’s so counter to common sense and normal female teenage peer attitudes that my BSometer is ringing like a gong.

shrugs

My sister did it; she got pregnant on purpose at 15. She just wanted to be a mommy. I don’t claim to understand that, but she went on to finish school and after several break-ups and get-back-togethers, married the father of her kid in her early twenties, then went on to have two more with him. They’re both 27 now, working good jobs and doing fine (hell, better than my childless ass at 30) so it’s hard for me to fault her.

[glee]

There is also the point that the local community think contraception is a bad thing - even after all these teenage pregnancies. :rolleyes:

[redtail23]

My cousin did the same thing. She’d had three babies by the time she was twenty. (Her parents made her give up the first one for adoption.) Her reasoning was pretty close to what’s attributed to these girls (unconditional love, someone to love/love me) plus the old teen fave of showing up the parents (I’ll show them how to raise a child!).

The reasoning is not that uncommon among pregnant teens, I don’t understand why you’re so skeptical. It’s mentioned in most analyses of teen pregnancy that I’ve seen.

For a group of girls to decide they’d all do it together and support each other? I can easily see it. Whether or not it’s realistic is a different question. Come on, they’re teenagers - realistic is not their strong suit.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Liberal

That’s nice. But what does it do for the baby?

Well, at least he’ll have one good story.

[even_sven]

@Two and a Half Inches of Fun

This is just weird. How stupid are these girls? I am going to go out on a limb and bet these girls are awful mothers and these children will end up being human trash. The apple does not fall far from the tree.

So being born to a teen mother makes you “human trash”? There is never a teen who can be a loving and competent parent?

I think you’d be surprised how often the reality of people’s lives does not conform to the notions you’ve created for yourself.

[Jayn_Newell]

There’s one thing that’s confusing me about this whole thing…how does a fishing community lose enough jobs overseas to be that badly affected? I know the industry hasn’t been that healthy in places, but this isn’t exactly call centre work–if the fish are there you fish.

I see this as a sad comment on what these girls expect out of life. They’ll have plenty of chances to become mothers, but only one to be a teenager

[Hostile_Dialect]

@Giraffe

That doesn’t even make sense.

I don’t make sense?

You’re talking about a gaggle of teenage girls who decide to get pregnant together, the only evidence of which is a couple girls’ tall tales and an apparently random fluctuation in an astoundingly low pregnancy rate. And I don’t make sense?

@CalMeacham

sixteen high school girls pregnant at the same time?

Seventeen high school girls pregnant in the same year, you mean, which is, again, a pretty low figure.

[paffinity]

@samclem

Four times the previous year ain’t bullshit.

While I agree something was fishy going on at the school mentioned in the OP, that kind of change doesn’t always mean there was some pact. My high school went from about 4 or 5 pregnancies last year (that’s just an estimate) to about 30 pregnancies this year. This is in a school with about 200 more people than the one in the OP.

[Scoundrel_Swanswater]

@paffinity

While I agree something was fishy going on at the school mentioned in the OP, that kind of change doesn’t always mean there was some pact. My high school went from about 4 or 5 pregnancies last year (that’s just an estimate) to about 30 pregnancies this year. This is in a school with about 200 more people than the one in the OP.

Wow, I think that is amazing.
Where are you situated?
In the Netherlands this would be extremely weird.

@Hostile Dialect

Seventeen high school girls pregnant in the same year, you mean, which is, again, a pretty low figure.

Not in my neck of the woods.
5 Would already be a lot.

[VinylTurnip]

@Scoundrel Swanswater

Or are you trying to infer that poor black girls pop out babies like rabbits?

Er… don’t they? Almost three times the rate of white teens, according to this site (data from 2006, apparently).

Maybe not quite leporine, but I didn’t think it was particularly controversial to note that black teen girls have a much higher rate of pregnancy than whites, at least in the United States.

[El_Kabong]

@Two and a Half Inches of Fun

I am going to go out on a limb and bet these girls are awful mothers and these children will end up being human trash. The apple does not fall far from the tree.

Judging from this, and your recent comments on the Maher Arar case, empathy’s not really your strong suit, is it?

Meanwhile, this story’s a little hard to assess. I was in high school in the mid '70s, and IIRC for an average senior class of around 250, there were 1-2 pregnancies per year. I knew of numerous girls of high school age who were anxious to have a baby as soon as practical on the grournds already mentioned, part validation, and part unconditional love., but most did not go through with it prior to graduation.

The number of pregnancies mentioned in the linked stories seems a bit high for the class size, and there may or may not have been some kind of agreement among some of the girls, but I don’t see some larger trend at work. Certainly some of these girls may regret having to take on the repsonsibility of motherhood that early, and without a live-in father, but the idea that this will automatically result in lives of misery or ‘human trash’ seems callous and unwarranted.

[MJinks]

So all the girls are 16 or younger, some of the men are over 20 with one in particular aged 24…

Sure the girls are stupid and immature, but what about the men? Better free up some prison space.

[WF_Tomba]

The desire to have babies is normal among sexually mature people. I’ll go farther and say I suspect it’s an instinctive drive. There is, furthermore, nothing morally wrong with having babies. It may not have been wise timing, but these girls should be embraced and supported by their community.

It might have been equally foolhardy if they’d made a pact to start a business together. Would any of you be calling them stupid for doing that?

[Giraffe]

@Hostile Dialect

I don’t make sense?

What you posted didn’t. You posted:

@Hostile Dialect

It’s pretty embarrassing that a bunch of people who met through the Straight Dope column could still be taken in by this.

This is stupid for several reasons:

1. You posted this after four people had responded to the OP, one of whom made a passing joke about fertility, and one of whom questioned the veracity of the story.
2. You imply that it’s self-evident that the story could not have actually happened. While it may not have happened as described, it’s pretty retarded to assert that it definitely did not simply because you find it implausible.
3. What’s with the eye-rolling about the Straight Dope column? No one here has claimed to be infallible, yet you’re sneering at people like we have.

The net effect is that you came across like a smug douchebag looking for any excuse to sneer at people.