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After reading the article about a pregnancy boom at Gloucester High, I was shocked. When I first read it I thought of the Lifetime movie, Pregnancy Pact. However, the article is different. Gloucester is a small fishing town in Massachusetts. Because of the economy, fishers are being sent overseas to fish and this is breaking families apart. Young girls at Gloucester High are lonely and want that unconditional love. They feel by getting pregnant will stop their loneliness and only help them emotionally. In fact, the local doctor issued nearly 150 pregnancy tests to teens that go to Gloucester High.
There are many controversial issues that arise with this story. First, the local doctor has decided to prescribe females with contraceptives without parental consent. Secondly, Principal Joseph Sullivan is facing the dilemma of providing contraceptives such as the pill at school. Do you think that the doctor should continue prescribing contraceptives without consent? Should Principal Sullivan provide the pill? Does he have the right? What should the school do to reach out to those girls who are lonely and are contemplating pregnancy?
-Mary Kate Bartlett
This article is really sort of sad. The girls want someone to love them unconditionally and they think a child is the only one who will do so. I'm not sure giving these girls birth control will really help the issue in itself. The girls seem sad and lost. I feel like they need to have more counseling sessions with the girls, rather than just giving them the pill. If the girls are using the children to feel loved, than giving them contraception will have no impact on the situation. The issue goes deeper than not having bc around. The article also makes it seem like its really ok to have children because so many others do, the school has daycare, and they think it will be sugarcoated. They should start with classes that show what its like after the baby is born and you have no sleep, and have to change diapers 24/7.
ReplyDelete~Sarah J.
The issue obviously goes deeper for these young girls in this Massachusetts town. I believe part of the conflict with prescribing birth control without parental consent is the religious background of this town. The familes come from strong Catholic roots. And parents have to admit that their teenagers are openly having sex. Many young girls in the United States already go to free clinics to be put on birth control without parental consent. The controversial thing about this situation is that the teen girls aren't traveling the 20 miles to go to a clinic they have the option in their own school. I personally think this is not a bad idea. If teen girls want to be on birth control why not help prevent unplanned pregnancies in young teens. I would rather find out my teen was taking birth control without my consent than having a baby at an age younger than 17, like the teens in the article.
ReplyDelete- Nicole A.
I think prescribing birth control without parental consent is fine. It is a little strange to make it available at school, but if that makes access easier for the women then it doesn't bother me. However, in this towns situation, that is far from the root of the issue. Like Sarah said, the girls are having babies because they feel unloved. Using birth control isn't going to make the girls feel any more loved. They will just not use the pills and still get pregnant. They need some intensive counseling to figure out why they feel so unloved and find other ways to cope and feel that love.
ReplyDelete-Megan A.
I think that the doctor should continue to prescribe the birth control pills to the girl and the principal should allow the distribution of them in the school, but I'm not sure if that would really help in this situation. I don't think that availability of birth control is the issue for these girls. I think that these girls are getting pregnant because that is exactly what they want to do- they want to be parents. It would be more helpful to the girls to have counseling and have people there to listen to them and make them feel loved. While I do believe that birth control should be readily accessible to everyone that wants it, I think that affection and sense of purpose would be the best birth control for these girls.
ReplyDelete-Jalissa B.