Mayor: No Evidence Of Teen Pregnancy Pact

(CBS/AP)  The city's mayor said Monday there is no evidence a group of young girls made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together, seeking to dispel an explosive theory put forth by the high school principal.

"Any planned blood-oath bond to become pregnant - there is absolutely no evidence of," Mayor Carolyn Kirk said Monday after a closed-door meeting with city, school and health leaders.

Conspicuously absent from that meeting was Gloucester High School Principal Joseph Sullivan, who has not responded to repeated requests for comment after he was quoted last week in a Time magazine story saying the girls planned to get pregnant together.

The mayor, who also sits on the school committee, said she was not comfortable having Sullivan at the meeting.

Kirk cited privacy concerns in refusing to answer many questions about the 17 girls who became pregnant this school year - more than quadruple the number who generally become pregnant as the school.

Kirk said she and Superintendent Christopher Farmer have been in touch with Sullivan, and that he was "foggy in his memory" about how he came to believe there was a pact.

"When pressed, his memory failed," Kirk said.

Authorities have talked to school and health officials who work most closely with the children and, Kirk said, "The people that worked with the children on a daily basis have said there has been no mention whatsoever of a pact."

But Time posted a story on its Web site Monday that included new quotes from its earlier interview with Sullivan in which the principal said a lack of access to birth control did not play a part in the surge of pregnancies.

"That bump was because of seven or eight sophomore girls. They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together," Time quoted Sullivan as saying.

Calls to Sullivan's office and home have not been returned. So far, Sullivan is the only school or city official who has used the term "pact."

Time also reported Monday that Pathways for Children chief executive Sue Todd, whose organization runs the high school's onsite daycare center, told the magazine on June 13 that its social worker had heard of the girls' plan to get pregnant as early as last fall. Todd has not returned calls from The Associated Press.

"We're facing a new area in teen pregnancy," CBS Early Show psychologist Linda Boesky, author of "When to Worry: How to Tell If Your Teen Needs Help-And What to Do About It," said on Friday.

"What we've always known (is) teens who are surprised and shocked (at getting pregnant). Now, instead of unplanned teen pregnancies, what we're seeing in this town is actually planned teen pregnancies," Boesky told co-anchor Julie Chen.

Boesky suggested part of the influence on teen girls in America comes from the pervasive celebrity culture. "If you look at all the celebrity magazines, celebrity TV shows, you can't turn a page without seeing more and more celebrities getting pregnant," she said.

The mayor said the spike in pregnancies is in keeping with similar spikes in other cities.

Farmer said there was a "distinct possibility" that the girls who found themselves in similar, challenging situations later decided to "come together for mutual support."

He said the Time magazine piece did not distinguish between "a pact to become pregnant or a pact because we are pregnant."

Farmer also said it was clear some of the girls were not trying very hard not to become pregnant. The principal had said some girls gave high-fives and planned baby showers while others were sullen if their pregnancy tests at the high school clinic came back negative.

Farmer defended Sullivan saying, "I don't believe anyone has acted in particularly bad faith here."

Gloucester resident Annette Dion, a 45-year-old private music teacher, said school and city officials should have done more to find out whether the girls truly made a pact to become pregnant. She said denying such a pact existed is "pretty naive."

"I don't think we heard the truth today," Dion said, adding that pop culture has glamorized teen pregnancy and that movies and celebrity pregnancies do not give girls an accurate picture of parenthood.

"My personal feeling, my impression, is they probably talked and discussed and thought it would be cool to get pregnant together," she said.

Brendan Henry, a 17-year-old going into his senior year at Gloucester, said the attention surrounding the alleged pact has taken the focus off bigger issues facing young people, including school underfunding. Still, he did not doubt that a pact could have existed.

"It definitely sounds like something that would happen at Gloucester High School," he said. "It doesn't sound too far fetched at all."

[valhallaarwe]

Also child abuse has been around longer than abortion has been around.

[valhallaarwe]

Mudrose, abortion is not the reason for child abuse. If that is the case, why do people who insist on having children (ie, give birth to those kids) either abuse or kill their kids. Did Andrea Yates abort her children? No, she just killed them. What about the guy who burned and killed his kids recently? What about the women in California who beat the little 5 yo boy? What about the woman in California who drowned all of her children? What is the corrolation between abortion and child abuse? I would rather a woman have an abortion that to abuse a child that is bought into this world. That means to me that the woman couldn''t handle having a baby, which to me is braver. And no, I have never had an abortion, nor have I been pregnant, but there are lots of people who should not have children.

[valhallaarwe]

lovegetpeace, no birth control is not the reason why, it is a lack of home training from the parent(s). You can not blame hollywood. That is just like when Dan Quayle blamed Murphy Brown. Where are the parents? That is what I want to know. These girls were going to do what they wanted to. I know when I was that age, I might have been boy crazy, but my parents would not let me do what I want. I can''t believe how some of my sisters have let their kids get away with stuff (example - I couldn''t get a tatoo or piercing anywhere - but one of my nieces at 15 got her belly button pierced - the rule with my mom was at 18 I could do that). I am still afraid of my parents today ... that''s rare.

[valhallaarwe]

I have been quite upset with the comments coming out the mouths of these dumb idiots. So we are supposed to think this is all just a mystery that these girls got "accidently" pregnant. And I love the fact that the authorities are thinking about pressing charges against the men who may be involved with these girls who are under the age of 16. BTW, i do not blame the movies, celebs,etc., I blame the parents and the two idiots involved in the act. The only reason why this made the news is because the girls are white. If this was black or hispanic girls this would not be on the news.
I think what bothers me the most is the fact that there was a call in show on CNN the other night and two teen moms called. The first one said that she didn''t have her kid until she was 17, unlike her friends who had their kids at 14. Wow. Another girl called and said she had her kid at 14 and that made her grow up. I guess since I''ve never had a kid, graduated high school, went to college, and have a job, and got married, I guess I never grew up. Oh if I had only know that having a child would help me grow up. BTW, I''m 38 -- soon to be 39. And as for the kid thing, I come from a big family and I can borrow a child whenever I feel like it.

[valhallaarwe]

If the principal is lying, why did the doctor and nurse practioner quit, and why did they report girls high fiving when they discovered they were pregnant and sad when they didn''t. If the principal is lying, then I guess one stepfather who has been on the news is lying. His name is Ted Sorenson, and he stated that his stepdaughter was approached by the group and she was either too smart or scared to participate. So I guess he is lying. Are we to believe the girl who was on CNN the other night who''s sister just had a baby and the girl could not look in the direction of the camera as she talked about her sister being pregnant and the fact that there was no pact. That is just lying to me because if there was no pact couldn''t she look directly into the camera? Then there was the idiot with her boyfriend who was giggling as she talked about there not being a pact and when she was asked if she was going to get married, she looked dumb and said, well not right now, I want to go to cosmotology school.

[ellianne10]

The MEDIA used the term PACT without evidence, and deserves this country''s mistrust of it''s credibility. Myth Mongers! Let us see you clean up this lie, media. You could care less. We need a media source on the media. Let''s have a nightly news cast giving the news about the media! Such spinners. It is no wonder people want nothing to do with answering calls from them.

[venkata4--2008]

One and half years from now I would like to see what these teens are going to say. Only with high school diploma in hand and an infant to feed and take care.

I feel that this mayor is in ''Denial'' and so are these pregnant teens.

[luvusa]

"Mayor: No Evidence Of Teen Pregnancy Pact"

Oh, that makes it okay then.

[kevzgrl]

Quoted from the article: "Brendan Henry, a 17-year-old going into his senior year at Gloucester, said the attention surrounding the alleged pact has taken the focus off bigger issues facing young people, including school underfunding. Still, he did not doubt that a pact could have existed.

"It definitely sounds like something that would happen at Gloucester High School," he said. "It doesn''t sound too far fetched at all."

This came from ONE OF THE STUDENTS - who knows most, if not all of the girls, involved in this "anomoly". Doesn''t that resonate with that mayor, who is so anxious to make the situation just "go away"? What about the school nurse, who was on CNN the other day saying that some of the girls seemed upset when their tests were negative, and that she saw some of them "high-fiving" and sharing the excitement when tests were positive? Is she just making it up too, or is her memory being called into question?
The big "What if" - what if there were more parents in Glouster PAYING ATTENTION TO THEIR CHILDREN and ACTUALLY SUPERVISING their free time? These days, it seems so many parents abdicate their supervisory responsibility to the schools, sports coaches or anyone else they can find, rather than doing the job themselves. THAT''S where the real problem lies, and where the real responsibility for this spike in teens ruining their lives begins - WITH THE PARENTS.

[barbaram99]

I was not born yesturday. I SAY THE MAYOR NEEDS TO STEP DOWN. We all pay to educate them to get a proper education and children having children IS NOT part that education. They are sent to school to learn.