Pregnancy Pact Movie from Lifetime TV- Is it a Teaching Moment?

Pregnancy Pact Movie on Lifetime TV

After news report hit the nation, I, like many other Americans, were shocked to find news of a so-called “pregnancy pact”. Teens, girls no older than 16, did in fact commit to getting pregnant at the same time. This story was a controversial fiasco, with its heart in Gloucester, Massachusetts. According to the Time article that brought this chaos to light, the school nurse practitioner had administered over 150 pregnancy tests by May, with girls being disappointed when the test came back negative. The small town had a fierce Catholic majority, and had a very difficult time coping with the teen pregnancies and with the press. Naturally, Lifetime remade the entire happening into a made-for-TV movie.
So, I was interested. I went to the Lifetime website and watched the film, entitled “The Pregnancy Pact.” I have very mixed feelings about this film. Initially, I thought it was just okay. It was a bit cheesy, but I think that was the nature, and the fun part, of watching a Lifetime movie online. They did a good job of setting up the story, and did follow it quite accurately. They covered the abundance of pregnancies, and had a view into the girls’ personal lives, through a blogger from the big city who moved out of Gloucester. This blogger appeared to be a real liberal, with obvious past history that was a “mystery.” She played the voice of reason for most of movie, trying to instill a sense of purpose and ambition in the girls. About ¾ of the way through, things started to become, well, weird. We find out things about the blogger’s past that indicate that she did not practice what she preaches, and how convoluted everyone was in the town. On top of that, the movie ends with a sort of push toward pregnancy. It was honestly startling to me. Although they show a bit of pain and some bad cases, the main pregnant teen covered in the film has a happy ending.
Ultimately, I think this film actually glorified teen pregnancy to some extent in the end. For hat reason, I would advise against watching it with your child, but would suggest watching it just for general interest.