By Sabrina Rojas Weiss
Teen pregnancy is in the air! You've got to wonder what deal with the devil NBC made to produce this coincidence: The week before the premiere of "The Baby Borrowers," Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth and that whole maybe-possible Massachusetts "pregnancy pact" story blew up. That's certainly why we made sure to tune into the show on Wednesday night.
A quick recap for those of you who didn’t watch: The six-part series places five teenage couples in comfy suburban houses, where they have to take care of infants for three days, then spend three days each taking care of toddlers, preteens and their pets, teenagers and, finally, seniors. Also, one member of each couple has to work a day job. Obviously, these cocky kids are expected to learn that they're far from being fully prepared to take care of other human beings. Read more...
Remember that "pregnancy pact" we told you about last week that was reportedly sealed by eight pregnant teens at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Massachusetts? The story, broken by Time magazine, made international news and brought the topic of teen pregnancy into sharp focus during the same week that 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth to her first child.
Now, after the world's attention was focused on the small, predominantly Catholic fishing town, school officials are casting doubt on the claim made by the school's principal that the girls banded together and planned to get pregnant and raise the babies together. School Committee Chairman Greg Verga told the Boston Herald on Monday (June 26) that Principal Joseph Sullivan is the only person who has made the claims that half the expectant teens at Gloucester High planned to get pregnant.
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So far, Jamie Lynn Spears appears to have taken the troubles faced by her sister, Britney, to heart as she celebrates the birth of her first child. The 17-year-old singer/actress, who delivered a baby girl on Thursday, recently bought a house near her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana, and settled down with fiance Casey Aldridge, 19. She also tried to stay well away from the glare of the Hollywood paparazzi as she prepared to be a mom.
In addition to getting her GED earlier this year, the "Zoey 101" star has said she plans to take a hiatus from work in order to concentrate on being a mother. But that hasn't stopped some social critics from lamenting the seemingly glamorous take on teen pregnancy some high school students might be getting from the tabloid coverage of Spears' baby, as well as the nonjudgmental messages of recent accidental-pregnancy movies "Juno" and "Knocked Up."
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Officials at Massachusetts' Gloucester High School were at a loss to explain why the teen pregnancy rate at their school had more than quadrupled over the past year. According to a report in the new issue of Time magazine, the dramatic increase is due, in part, to a pact among eight girls from the school, none older than 16, who vowed to get pregnant and raise their children together.
The girls' plan shocked parents and administrators at the 1,200-student school and sparked a still-simmering debate about contraception in the fiercely Catholic fishing town's schools, the Boston Globe reported.
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