The Week Daily reports on 17 students at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Mass., who are pregnant, and none of the girls is older than 16:

“These girls screwed up and their stupidity shouldn’t be excused,” said Steve Booher in the St. Joseph, Mo., News-Press. But that doesn’t mean they should be punished by society. They’ll get punishment enough “in a few months when they have to get up at 2 a.m. to change a dirty diaper and feed a howling infant.”

I’d like to object to anyone calling a newborn infant a “punishment!” I mean, sure these girls are probably clueless about what motherhood entails. And I’m sure they won’t enjoy waking up in the middle of the night more than any other new mother. But a little baby is a precious gift and a blessing. I only  hope that these innocent children don’t grow up feeling like thier birth was a punnishment to their mothers!