By now many of you have probably witnessed the media storm surrounding Gloucester High School. Seventeen girls who attend the Massachusetts school are pregnant - more than four times the number of pregnancies of the previous year. Teenage pregnancy is nothing new. Seeing lots of pregnant teenagers is nothing new. But the possibility of some sort of pact that found the girls wanting to all get pregnant at the same time? That's new. Gloucester principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine that after a little investigation, he had learned that the girls were getting pregnant on purpose - even reacting to the news of positive pregnancy test with "high fives and plans for baby showers."
My, how the times have changed.
But just before I put together an illustration about the whole mess for Preaching Today, I learned that there might be more to the story.
Gloucester's mayor, Carolyn Kirk, later said there was no substantial evidence that the group of girls had made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. In fact, superintendent Christopher Farmer said there was credible evidence that the pregnant teenagers had "come together for mutual support." In other words, the pact wasn't to get pregnant; it was to support one another in their pregnancies.
Interesting.
And there might be even more to the story. Many are using it to show how teenage pregnancy is a huge problem in our country. Others are using it to push along agendas that clamor for better sex education programs. Still others want condoms handed out at schools to help the kids enjoy what they want without the consequences. But take a minute to look at the problem through the eyes of Time magazine's Nancy Gibbs. In her editorial "Give the Girls a Break," she writes:
What if the visible leap in pregnancies is part of a different trend, which the national studies confirm: not necessarily more kids having sex or more girls getting pregnant but instead more of those who do deciding to have the baby rather than abort it? Consider Lindsey Oliver, a Gloucester student who says she found herself pregnant despite being on the Pill. She told Good Morning America that she made her own pact with friends to help them get through their unplanned pregnancies together. She and her boyfriend, a 20-year-old community-college student, talked about trying to do the right thing in a difficult situation.
If Gibbs is right? My, how the times have changed.
I'm not sure how many of you have already addressed this from the pulpit. I'm not sure how many of us should address it from the pulpit quite yet, seeing as new elements to the story are being added daily. I just know that there's something going on here that we should eventually address. For now, file it under "An illustration in waiting that has the potential to strike at a multitude of layers to society - most notably the youth culture and its budding moral convictions."
Posted by Brian Lowery at 11:26 AM on July 2, 2008
Comments
this is one of the only interesting and profitable reflections i have read concerning this over-hyped incident. thank you for reminding us that incidents such as this one are not simply fodder for exploitation but are opportunities for careful consideration and contemplation. if God utilizes this situation to call the Gloucester community to a greater sense of interdependence and personal sacrifice i suppose we should not be surprised.
thanks again.
Posted by: gentry13 on July 8, 2008
This was an interesting story. All I heard was what the original headlines were and that was the pact of them all getting pregnant. It was encouraging to here the positive aspects of this story. What has happened will effect the lives of all involved and the question is, "What is the community doing to help these families, and what positive change can come from this?" Can this be one of many wake up calls for us as a nation to look at a problem differently, reaching out and bringing about a lasting change instead of a temporary fix. It is always helpful to go beyond the surface, because there is always more to a story than what we first hear.
www.clairmelassembly.net
Posted by: Desiree on July 9, 2008