Was high school senior right to fake pregnancy as a "social experiment?"

Post Date: April 25th, 2011

Here is a very interesting story by the AP from Yahoo! News , along with an ABC video from the Denverpost.com, about high school student Gabby Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a 17 year-old senior at a Washington High School. She recently conducted a 6-month “social experiment” where she faked her pregnancy, only telling her boyfriend, mother, school principal and few others, in order to see the reactions from the town and her classmates.

In the ABC video, Rodriguez talks about the fact that she received a lot of hurtful feedback, and is now looking to show the results of her study to city officials, so that something can be done to help pregnant-teenagers.

This is obviously a very unorthodox idea, but you need to give Rodriguez a lot of credit for her bravery and fortitude to follow through with her plan for six months, accepting the stares and comments that a pregnant high school teenager is sure to get.

What is your opinion of this story? Did Rodriguez do the right thing by leading everyone to believe she was pregnant for six months? How would you have reacted if this situation had happened while you were in high school, or even just in you’re town today?

After the initial shock of finding out Rodriguez wasn’t pregnant, I’d like to believe that I would have respected her commitment to her study, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who feel lied to or deceived.  I am also wondering if while being “pregnant” she explored what options a teen in her position may consider?  Was adoption something that she explored?  Is it information she will share?

It’s hard to say if what Rodriguez did is right or wrong, but I am certain she learned a great deal.   I hope she releases the findings of her study publicly so everyone can learn from her experiences.

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Tags: Fake pregnancy, Gebby Rodriguez, Teenage pregnancy

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