“pregnancy pact”. What is wrong with these girls?

[yakanaj]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4187548.ece

I can't believe that people can be this dumb.

[Zedd]

Oh dear god...

[techmaster-glitch]

I don't get it. What exactly are the details of this "pact"? Either I missed it, or the article did not elaborate.

[Kenji]

More mouths for taxpayers to feed! Guaranteed they'll raise funds to support them instead of letting the lil skanks pay for the kids themselves.

[yakanaj]

I don't get it. What exactly are the details of this "pact"? Either I missed it, or the article did not elaborate.

The main goal of these girls was to get pregnant as soon as they could. Most aren't even 18 yet.

[Darkmoon]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

[Valynth]

Smart people reproduce through sex.

Stupid people reproduce through "bunny math."

[King Of Hearts]

o lord... just go dress up a doll instead.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I can't believe that people can be this dumb.

I can.

*sigh* And these people are going to be living off the money I pay in taxes. :-/

[ShadesFox]

It's not that hard to believe.  These kids have no concept of the future and they see a kid as a status symbol.  They have no idea that, unlike an iPod or a shiny car, there is serious investment and future consideration to look into. 

[Faerie Alex]

Also, I heard the school has:

• no sex-ed program (abstinence only or otherwise)
• a day care program for students who have children
• refused to allow the health department distribute contraceptives without parental consent, at which point the top people (nurse administrator, or something like that) resigned

They were almost asking for it without asking for it.

That said, I'm not agreeing with what they did, I'm just pointing out that stupidity may not have been the only factor.

[Reese Tora]

I don't get it. What exactly are the details of this "pact"? Either I missed it, or the article did not elaborate.

The main goal of these girls was to get pregnant as soon as they could. Most aren't even 18 yet.

Nobody disputes Sullivan's contention that several girls were trying to get pregnant, but he did not specifically mention a pact and for all the media attention lavished on Gloucester last week, nobody was able to produce a girl who could testify to its existence.

"I had never heard the term 'pact' until Time magazine wrote it," said Farmer.

The town also faces a difficult debate about how to improve its sex education and whether to provide free contraception in schools, which is fiercely opposed by many Catholics.

Looks like a simple failure of sex ed to me, which, depending on the community, is spotty to non existent.

[rabid_fox]

Well, this wasn't unusual not-so-many-years-ago. Maybe a return to "Breen When Able" is on the horizon. Or maybe these girls are going to be turned into symbols of depraved behaviour and their children vilified before they're even born.

Who knows? Who cares?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That said, I'm not agreeing with what they did, I'm just pointing out that stupidity may not have been the only factor.

Ahem. Stupidity of the players alone, you mean. Associated stupidity of the parents doesn't help...

[Vidar]

This is what happens when education consistently fails. The stupid keeps on mounting generation after generation, until a threshold has been reached, and you get an explosion of retardedness. In this case, these girls are at the epicenter of the idiotquake, and will have to pay for their moronity for the rest of their imbecilic lives.

[rabid_fox]

This is what happens when education consistently fails. The stupid keeps on mounting generation after generation, until a threshold has been reached, and you get an explosion of retardedness. In this case, these girls are at the epicenter of the idiotquake, and will have to pay for their moronity for the rest of their imbecilic lives.

Apparently motherhood has an "age limit" for you. Explain that, please.

[Reese Tora]

This is what happens when education consistently fails. The stupid keeps on mounting generation after generation, until a threshold has been reached, and you get an explosion of retardedness. In this case, these girls are at the epicenter of the idiotquake, and will have to pay for their moronity for the rest of their imbecilic lives.

Apparently motherhood has an "age limit" for you. Explain that, please.

Dunno about Vidar, but, IMO, someone shouldn't have a baby if they are unable to support themself and the baby.  Further, and still in my oppinion, a highschool girl, probably living at home, certainly too young to work, and below the age of consent clearly does not qualify as a person able to support themself.

There are people who have babies at a young age, and it causes a burden on them, on their relatives, from which they may never fully recover in terms of education.  If all they ever wish to aspire to is to be someone's uneducated house wife, then, by all means, elt them ruin thier chances of getting a proper education or job, but it's irrresponsible. (and that deosn't even go in to what their child will go through!)

[Vidar]

This is what happens when education consistently fails. The stupid keeps on mounting generation after generation, until a threshold has been reached, and you get an explosion of retardedness. In this case, these girls are at the epicenter of the idiotquake, and will have to pay for their moronity for the rest of their imbecilic lives.

Apparently motherhood has an "age limit" for you. Explain that, please.

Dunno about Vidar, but, IMO, someone shouldn't have a baby if they are unable to support themself and the baby.  Further, and still in my oppinion, a highschool girl, probably living at home, certainly too young to work, and below the age of consent clearly does not qualify as a person able to support themself.

There are people who have babies at a young age, and it causes a burden on them, on their relatives, from which they may never fully recover in terms of education.  If all they ever wish to aspire to is to be someone's uneducated house wife, then, by all means, elt them ruin thier chances of getting a proper education or job, but it's irrresponsible. (and that deosn't even go in to what their child will go through!)

I agree with this.
There is no hard 'age limit'  for motherhood. Having a child is a huge responsibility, and as such, motherhood should only be undertaken by those who use their brains, and not those who get pregnant in order to be part of a group, or as a bet, like these completely irresponsible c***s did.
The children that come from this arrangement get a very poor start in life indeed, and there just is no excuse to give your children such a start in a rich country like the USA.
If I sounds harsh about it, I'm not sorry at all. I condemn the actions of these children, and I bemoan their education, both from school, and from their parents, who obviously failed to instill a sense of responsibility in them.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Er...

Gloucester is in the UK, isn't it?

(Not that that invalidates your points in _any_ way...)

[Faerie Alex]

Perhaps, but I believe this one is in Massachusetts, USA.

[rabid_fox]

Some of the best mothers I know had their children early and were totally unprepared.

Some of the worst mothers I know have degrees, qualifications and mortgages.

And vice versa.

In other words - how dare you judge something you're totally unqualified to judge. No, really. Successful parenting is a case-to-case basic. The most dreadful "circumstance and expectation" mother can turn out to the finest parent of all, and the one that's planned, prepared and financed can end up destroying the young person in their charge.

How very dare you.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Perhaps, but I believe this one is in Massachusetts, USA.

Right you are. I looked at .co.uk, not the deeper part of the URL. :-/

My bad.

[Alondro]

Some of the best mothers I know had their children early and were totally unprepared.

Some of the worst mothers I know have degrees, qualifications and mortgages.

And vice versa.

In other words - how dare you judge something you're totally unqualified to judge. No, really. Successful parenting is a case-to-case basic. The most dreadful "circumstance and expectation" mother can turn out to the finest parent of all, and the one that's planned, prepared and financed can end up destroying the young person in their charge.

How very dare you.

I think in this case it's pretty safe to say these dumb bimbos are going to be terrible mothers.  They're idiots, plain and simple.

[bill]

Some of the best mothers I know had their children early and were totally unprepared.

Some of the worst mothers I know have degrees, qualifications and mortgages.

And vice versa.

In other words - how dare you judge something you're totally unqualified to judge. No, really. Successful parenting is a case-to-case basic. The most dreadful "circumstance and expectation" mother can turn out to the finest parent of all, and the one that's planned, prepared and financed can end up destroying the young person in their charge.

How very dare you.

Generally, educated parents make better lives for their kids than young, non-educated ones, anecdotes be damned.

[rabid_fox]

No, no and no. There are NO set generalisations that work for parenting. Non whatsoever. To judge parenting by that which led to the pregnancy is a farce.

It's fun though.

I love damning people by class too, I do. Drat those middle-class scumballs, lording it over us all with their second-hand Mercedes and their...Reader's Digest.

[Reese Tora]

Some of the best mothers I know had their children early and were totally unprepared.

Some of the worst mothers I know have degrees, qualifications and mortgages.

And vice versa.

In other words - how dare you judge something you're totally unqualified to judge. No, really. Successful parenting is a case-to-case basic. The most dreadful "circumstance and expectation" mother can turn out to the finest parent of all, and the one that's planned, prepared and financed can end up destroying the young person in their charge.

How very dare you.

Did I ever say they will be bad parents? No? I didn't think so.  Whether they will be good parents or not is not the question.  If you cannot provide basic necesities to yourself and your child (food, a roof over your head) you are being irresponsible. period. A child should not be raised in a box in an alley. 

If you put a burden on your relatives because you cannot provide them yourself, you are being inconsiderate and irresponsible.  It doesn't matter if they don't mind supporting you or your child, it doesn't matter if they are willing to take over all responsibility and care for your child, it is still inconsiderate.

Can you stand here, look me in the eye, and tell me that these girls, aged 14 to 18, can have a child and avoid doing what I just outlined above? I don't think you can.  They can be the best mothers in the world, but they are still being irresponsible and inconsiderate.

[bill]

Yep. There's more to being a good mother than an innate talent, which, I admit, is there. The most caring mother in the world won't fare as well raising a kid by herself in a slum, than a disconnected, well-educated, middle-class mother raising a kid in a suburb with a father earning $110K a year.

[Alkarii]

This crap is old news to me.  When I got to the high school in my sophomore year (the high school wasn't big enough to accomodate the freshmen; they were given a campus to themselves right after I left the junior high), there were just a few girls pregnant, and that number swelled a bit to about 17 or so the following year.  My senior year ('06), there was about 34 girls pregnant before I graduated.

I say that they shouldn't be given any help, since they think they're mature enough to handle it.  Unless you want that kid to have a lot of issues later on in life, you'll have to be working your hands to the bone just to make sure they have enough to get by on, and it takes a lot of money to take care of a kid.  Most of the girls I knew who had children they weren't ready for are now pretty much white trash since they can't afford anything and don't really know what the hell they're doing.

And to think I caught all sorts of flak for not wanting sex while I was in high school.  Hell, I still don't want to bother with it, since I've got college coming up in the fall and I'd rather devote my time and energy to that instead.

[rabid_fox]

Some of the best mothers I know had their children early and were totally unprepared.

Some of the worst mothers I know have degrees, qualifications and mortgages.

And vice versa.

In other words - how dare you judge something you're totally unqualified to judge. No, really. Successful parenting is a case-to-case basic. The most dreadful "circumstance and expectation" mother can turn out to the finest parent of all, and the one that's planned, prepared and financed can end up destroying the young person in their charge.

How very dare you.

Did I ever say they will be bad parents? No? I didn't think so.  Whether they will be good parents or not is not the question.  If you cannot provide basic necesities to yourself and your child (food, a roof over your head) you are being irresponsible. period. A child should not be raised in a box in an alley. 

If you put a burden on your relatives because you cannot provide them yourself, you are being inconsiderate and irresponsible.  It doesn't matter if they don't mind supporting you or your child, it doesn't matter if they are willing to take over all responsibility and care for your child, it is still inconsiderate.

Can you stand here, look me in the eye, and tell me that these girls, aged 14 to 18, can have a child and avoid doing what I just outlined above? I don't think you can. They can be the best mothers in the world, but they are still being irresponsible and inconsiderate.

I can.

[Brunhidden]

the irritation about this is not girls being pregnant too young, or any of the related items

the irritation is that people now treat pregnancy as a fashion accessory.

pregnancy is beautiful, its life in its purest form, its a statement of maturity and sexuality, it is NOT stickers on your cellphone or an expensive pair of shoes