The Pregnancy Pact Case

[erpowers]

I know that someone has already posted about the pregnancy pact case. However, I want to take this issue from a different side. I contend the story written about the case was at the least a case of bad journalism. Even the woman who wrote the story seems to admit that she did not have concrete evidence when she wrote the story. A few minutes ago she was on the Today Show and admitted that when she talked to the principal of the school he told her that he had heard that it was a pact between the girls. The principal was trying to say that the spike in pregnancy was not due to a contraception issue. The reporter who wrote the story also claimed she talked to a number of people who claimed the girls had made the pact.

I understand that in journalism reporters have the ability to write a story if they can find a number of people to give the same information. However, I still think this reporter should not have written the story without having concrete evidence of a pact. She was writing about something that happened at a high school. There are so many false rumors that go around high school and those kids bring those rumors back to their parents. In high school you can say almost anything about someone and some of the kids will believe it and spread it around to other kids.

I contend the principal of the school used the pact story to not have to deal with the contraception issue. If the girls made a pact to get pregnant than contraception would not have helped. It seems like the principal may have been trying to take some blame away from himself.

[HereSince1628]

1. Stories like the 'preggers pact' keep pushing Baby Dannie stories out of the news

That just isn't fair to Baby Dannie and all her loyal fans.

[Ian David]

2. And also, if children supposedly immitate what they see in the media...

... then giving this story media attention would presumably lead to more pacts-- if, in fact, this pact thing is even real.

[Captain Hilts]

3. The press believed the Clinton Admin "vandalized" the White House before leaving...

if it fits their agenda, they use it.

[LisaL]

4. It's just so very interesting that you would advocate giving

contraceptives to girls 16 and under, even though if they have sex with older men, in many states it would be considered a crime of statutory rape.

[gollygee]

6. So it would be better if they also got pregnant?

I don't get what your point is.

[lukasahero]

7. Huh?

Yes, if a 16 yr old girl has sex with "older men", it is statutory rape in many states (not "would be considered" - "is"). That said, 16 year old girls can and do get pregnant by 16 year old boys. Is there a reason we shouldn't offer them protection from pregnancy and stds?

[Renew Deal]

11. So you want to pretend they're not having sex?

How did that work out?

[erpowers]

13. Did Not Advocate Anything

I did not advocate anything. I just pointed out that it seemed to me that the principal was making an excuse to take blame away from himself. There is no point in the post were I said the principal or anyone else should have given the girls contraceptives. However, I did point out that the principal claimed it was not an issue of the girls not being given contraceptives, but an issue of girls making a pact. That made me think the principal put out the pact story in order to not have to answer any questions about the contraceptives issue.

In addition, I do not think any of the story has ever been confirmed. I do not think anyone really knows the ages of the males that got the girls pregnant.

[stillcool]

5. I saw some local high school kids..

being interviewed who said they knew of 2 girls who talked about getting pregnant together. That was the closest thing I've heard so far that came close to the 'story'.

Mayor rejects notion of 'pact' in Gloucester pregnancies

Gloucester (WBZ Newsroom/AP) -- The mayor of Gloucester made her strongest statement to date on Monday that there is no evidence of a pact among a group of girls in the city's high school to get pregnant together.

And the school superintendent told reporters that the Time magazine reporter who wrote the story told him she did not make a distinction between a pact made between a group of girls before they became pregnant and the possibility that girls who already were pregnant got together to discuss raising their babies together.
----------------------------------
City and school officials in this town of about 30,000 people 30 miles north of Boston have been struggling for months to explain and deal with the pregnancies, where on average only four girls a year at the 1,200-student high school become pregnant.

Just last month, two officials at the high school health center resigned to protest the local hospital's refusal to support a proposal to distribute contraceptives to youngsters at the school without parental consent. The hospital controls the clinic's funding.

The heavily Roman Catholic town, with a large Italian and Portuguese population, has long been supportive of teen mothers. The high school has a day care center for students and employees.
http://wbz.com/pages/2463462.php?contentType=4&contentId=2301220

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-23-teens-pact_N.htm?csp=34

http://www.wbur.org/news/2008/78193_20080624.asp

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080623/wire/806230361&tc=yahoo

[LisaL]

9. In this story, several students said that this alleged pact was

common knowledge.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_06_24_Mayor_s_denial_does_little_to_KO_pregnancy_pact_story/srvc=home&position=1

[stillcool]

10. yeah that story mentioned the '2 girls' as well..

“They were best friends. They wanted to raise their kids together so they could be best friends, too,” said Nicole Mitchell, 15, speaking about two girls involved in the alleged pact.

..kind of funny..I live in Gloucester and the first I heard of this was on national news. I guess it's no surprise that no one is buying it around here.

[Robb]

8. There's two words that could have saved this

...from a journalism perspective: "According to."

Report. If the principal tells you something, and you report he did, that's the job. This headline/lede blowup is another matter, but if the principal said it, and the reporter wrote it down, that's still a story. The principal is a central figure in the school; fair game, and good enough.

If the principal backtracks later, you also report that. And if everyone around him contradicts him, you should report that too. :shrug:

[AlCzervik]

12. i think the reporter made a big mistake, here's an update from the la times and the reporter

who wrote the original story hasn't called them back yet. As far the motives of the principal, i don't know.

So-called pregnancy pact in Mass. town questioned

By MELISSA TRUJILLO - Associated Press Writer
Published 4:19 am PDT Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The story made headlines almost immediately: High school girls in this New England fishing town had made a pact to get pregnant.

Now the account is under fire. The city's mayor on Monday disputed the pact theory originally stated by the high school principal.

"Any planned blood-oath bond to become pregnant - there is absolutely no evidence of," Mayor Carolyn Kirk said after a closed-door meeting with city, school and health leaders.

Absent from that meeting was Gloucester High School Principal Joseph Sullivan, who has not responded to repeated requests for comment after he was quoted last week in a Time magazine story saying the girls planned to get pregnant together.

Kirk cited privacy concerns in refusing to answer many questions about the 17 girls who became pregnant this school year - more than quadruple the number who generally become pregnant at the school.

Kirk said she and Superintendent Christopher Farmer have been in touch with Sullivan, and that he was "foggy in his memory" about how he came to believe there was a pact.

"When pressed, his memory failed," the mayor said.

Kirk said school and health authorities who worked with the children on a daily basis "have said there has been no mention whatsoever of a pact."

Calls to Sullivan's office and home have not been returned. So far, Sullivan is the only school or city official who has used the term "pact."

Time magazine posted a story on its Web site Monday that included new quotes from its earlier interview with Sullivan. "They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together," Time quoted Sullivan as saying.

Time also reported Monday that Pathways for Children chief executive Sue Todd, whose organization runs the high school's onsite daycare center, told the magazine on June 13 that its social worker had heard of the girls' plan to get pregnant as early as last fall. Todd has not returned calls from The Associated Press.

more at link
http://www.sacbee.com/830/v-print/story/1034131.html