On preganancy pacts.

It seems to be a bit of old news now, but I was thinking about the pregnancy pact story in Gloucester, MA, and something hit me when I read the statement that the principal “found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy.”

This story isn’t about pregnancy. It’s not about contraceptives or sex education or Catholic sensibilities. It’s about self-worth.

I asked a few friends whether they had ever considered going out and getting pregnant just for the sake of having a child. Some of them said yes. What’s telling is that those thoughts entered their minds at the times in their lives where they felt the most alone and the most marginalized and unconnected.

The pregnancy pact problem in Gloucester is really an issue of teenage girls not having a place in their culture where they feel as though they are valuable. For them, their value now comes from being part of a group that is going through a shared experience: having a baby.

I’m not saying teenage pregnancy is wrong all the time, but I am saying that if these girls were given options, activities, and communities where they felt like they were important, their self-worth may have been at a point where joining (or even thinking of) a pregnancy pact would not be appealing.

How do we create those communities and environments?