Teen moms: Pregnancy pact a dumb idea Girls just want to have - babies
By Jessica Heslam and Jessica Fargen | Friday, June 20, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Two new Gloucester teen moms yesterday blasted a group of peers who reportedly made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together, saying the young moms-to-be dont know what theyre getting themselves into.
Childhood pals Alivia Fidler and Meaghan Orlando were 16 years old and sophomores at Gloucester High School when they got pregnant unexpectedly last year.
If I could go back in time I would want to wait and have the same baby later. You cant do stuff that normal teens do, said Orlando, now 17 and the mother of 3-month-old Jayden. They dont know what theyre getting themselves into.
Seventeen Gloucester High students are expecting, and nearly half of them said they made a pact to get pregnant, according to an explosive Time magazine report published online yesterday.
The shocking revelation came as 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, former star of Nickelodeons Zoey 101, gave birth to a baby girl.
Some of the girls in the Gloucester pact reacted with high-fives and made plans for baby showers when they learned they were pregnant, Principal Joseph Sullivan told the magazine, and one of the dads is a 24-year-old homeless man. Sullivan is on vacation and couldnt be reached yesterday.
Fidler and Orlando walked their babies in strollers yesterday along the Gloucester harbor. Both said they plan to return to high school as juniors this fall. The teens said the school offers day care.
Fidler, mother of 5-month-old Xavier, called the pact ridiculous.
Theyre not going to be friends very long. You have to take care of your baby, said Fidler, who is no longer with her babys father and just lost her job at McDonalds. Its frustrating. I dont have a lot of support.
Orlando, who lives with her parents and is still with her babys father, said she had heard there were a bunch of girls trying to get pregnant.
Gloucester School Committee chairman Greg Verga called the pregnancy pact disturbing.
Verga was a teenage dad himself and knows firsthand how hard it can be to raise a baby while in high school, even with family support, like he had.
They are going to have a rude awakening. It was no picnic. People dont realize theres 3 a.m. feedings . . . its a lifestyle change, said Verga, whose now-wife became pregnant at age 17. Its not a possession you can play with and stick on the shelf. Thats why I fear for these girls.
