Did Gloucester’s Health Care System Fail 17 Pregnant Teens?

Fisherman Memorial – Gloucester, MA

The public high school in the small fishing town of Gloucester, MA is trying to figure out why 17 of its students are pregnant, a pregnancy rate 4 times that of the previous school year. Rumors have been flying, and the mayor of Gloucester seems to agree, that a pact was made among these girls to get pregnant and raise their children together.

Gloucester High School is a school lucky enough to have a student health center on-site, but the New York Times reports that in May the center’s medical director and chief nurse practitioner both resigned after learning that the hospital that funds the clinic would not allow the center to distribute contraception. And, with so many budgets facing cuts in the wake of the town’s struggle as the fishing industry declines, the town’s mayor, Carolyn Kirk, also reports that the school’s health curriculum budget has been cut and the school does not provide sex education.

Much has been written about why teens choose to get pregnant, and Mayor Kirk believes the reasons are the same for the pregnant teens in her town, they want to be loved and they want someone to love. It has also been written, though, that a comprehensive sex education program that includes, among other things, information about contraception (and preferably access to contraceptive methods) and self-esteem building and goal setting can help reduce teenage pregnancy.

Do you think these young girls were failed by their town’s health system when the school health center was not allowed to provide contraception and sex education was cut from their curriculum? Were they failed by someone/something else? Or, do you think these girls weren’t failed at all, but rather made their own informed choices and are now on a positive path of their own choosing? Discuss!

Edit June 23, 2008: It appears that the Mayor Carolyn Kirk nows says she has no confirmation that the girls made a pregnancy pact.

Sources:
Image: Newscom
Gloucester High School
“Spike in School’s Pregnancies Leads to Report That Some Resulted From Girls’ Pact” – The New York Times, June 20, 2008