Moms Talk: Would You Let Your Teen Fake a Pregnancy -- And Sacrifice Senior Year -- for a School Project?

Question: Could you allow your child to take on a project that could dramatically affect his or her senior year experience?

I have spent, as most of you with teenagers have, I’m sure, all of my daughter’s adolescent years hoping and praying she would not have an unintended teen pregnancy.

I could make jokes about chastity belts and locking her in her room with a 6 p.m. curfew until the age of 18, but really I’ve considered the greatest defense to be keeping the lines of communication open and trying to make sure she has strong internal reasons to not have a child at a young age.

One thing that might have helped—a lot—was seeing me go through another pregnancy when she was 12, right about the age when witnessing the changes in a woman’s body and the sleepless nights with a new baby can be vividly burned into a young girl’s mind.

After going to such great lengths to convince my daughter to avoid becoming a teen parent, the story about Gaby Rodriguez, the Toppenish, Wash., high school senior who intentionally faked a pregnancy for much of her senior year in order to complete a project on social stereotypes and bias against pregnant teens made me recall my high school friend and wonder how her Mom could stand the worry and fears for her daughter throughout her project.

The story immediately reminded me of a girl I knew in high school who became pregnant her junior year, a bright student with a boyfriend one year older. I watched her as she stopped competing in sports, and spent several months at home with a tutor instead of going out with friends.

A few years later, when I gave birth to my daughter, this young woman was working as a nurse’s aide in the Spokane hospital where I was admitted. By then she had more children, and her husband worked in a convenience store. Though there’s nothing exactly wrong with the path she chose—or that chose her, perhaps—I couldn’t help but wonder how her life might have been different if she hadn’t had a baby at a young age. 

In one way I can totally applaud Rodriguez for wanting to do something that certainly provides great insight for schools and public health officials as they seek ways to help teens cope with such adversity. On the other hand, I know I would have a very hard time allowing my daughter to do something that would dramatically change her experience of her final year in high school.

I wonder how other parents felt when they read this story, and how you think you would have responded if your child had come to you with a similar request?

I think, for me, it would have been extremely difficult to agree to allow my daughter to go through that, even though I would hope to be supportive if it was really important to her.