Jun 20, 2008 6:31 pm US/Eastern
Some Doubt Validity Of Alleged Pregnancy Pact
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (WBZ) ―
A reported pregnancy pact in Gloucester, where 17 young girls are expecting babies, has sparked a debate about teen pregnancy.
According to reports, many of the pregnant girls say they did it on purpose.
However, the city's mayor says she's seen no evidence of a pact.
The city is getting calls from all over the world.
The story has been reported in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald and in London's Guardian.
"For some reason I think Gloucester has a distorted idea of teen pregnancy," said Alycia Mazzeo.
That's something that 16-year-old Mazzeo, who is the mother of 7-month-old Isabella, wants to change. She didn't plan to get pregnant and she didn't know the realities of life as a teenage mother.
"No more movies. No more going out to dinner with friends. No more parties, and no more going to the mall with friends," she said.
She and other young moms like Alycia Verga want to share their experiences after hearing that a group of girls all got pregnant on purpose.
"It's hard for me to go buy diapers and buy food because you don't get a lot of help that everyone thinks you do," Verga said.
There's now no more room left at the day care center at Gloucester High School. They can currently serve seven children, and there's a need for more than double that for next year.
Gloucester's mayor, Caroline Kirk, refuted reports of a pact saying, "I don't think there was a pact in the order of a dozen girls conspiring to get pregnant. That would really surprise me, and I have seen no evidence of it."
"Is it a pact? I think it's how you define it," said Gloucester Daily editor Ray Lamont.
Lamont has been swamped with calls from around the world.
"It's probably one of the few things in this day in age that will probably shock us -- the idea that a number of girls at one high school would agree it would be a good idea to get pregnant, go out and have kids together and be moms together at the age of 15 and 16," Lamont said.
The chairman of the school committee said if one of the fathers is in fact a 24-year-old homeless man, as has been reported, he wants police to pursue statutory rape charges.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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