18 Pregnant Schoolgirls covers the story of what happened when an unusually large number of teenage girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts turned up for pregnancy tests at a school clinic. When they were disappointed to find out they weren’t pregnant, the school began to suspect something was up. Officials announced that they would be investigating an apparent teenage "pregnancy pact" responsible for the fact that at least 17 girls in the high school were expecting babies, four times more than the previous year. It was reported that none of the girls was older than 16 years of age.
The initial report of a pregnancy pact was based on supposed remarks to Time magazine by the school’s principal, Joseph Sullivan. The resulting story, published a year ago, sparked a media frenzy as the news travelled round the world. But was there really a pact? What was really going on in Gloucester?