Here’s a story that should maybe shift the conversation about sex education, birth control.

“Nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together,” the magazine’s story said, after reporters talked with Joseph Sullivan, Gloucester High School principal.

Seventeen girls at the 1,200-student Gloucester High have gotten pregnant over the school year, more than four times the average number. The spike has shocked and baffled education and health officials there and reignited a fierce debate about contraception in schools. But many told the Globe last month that the most alarming facts were that a significant portion of the expecting girls were 16 and younger and that some seemed to be intentional.

So maybe handing out more condoms would be the best way to go.  Obviously, if teenagers are old enough to have sex, then they’re old enough to appropriately use birth control, as long as their evil prudish parents don’t keep it from them, and it’s made available for free at school.

Unless, of course, they don’t want to.

Speaking of parents, there is no mention in the article about the parents of these teenagers…

“When it comes to sex, a lot of communities struggle to be forthright,” she said. “People in Gloucester need to look at using what feels like a crisis as an opportunity to improve services and support.”

…But who needs parents when you have “services and support.”