The Pregnancy Pact Trailer: Pretending Fiction Is Fact

The Lifetime original movie The Pregnancy Pact (airing January 23) purports to be “based on a true story,” but staff members at Gloucester High School—where the pact was allegedly made—are denouncing it, saying it’s a work of fiction.

Dr. Brian Orr, who worked at Gloucester, said, “The pact was totally a product of the media, and for the media in any way, movies or otherwise, to continue to take advantage of this idea of the pact is truly disgusting.”

Lifetime has since released a statement, admitting that the movie is fictional, but also claiming it is somehow educational (and not sensational):

This film is the story of a fictional ‘pregnancy pact’ set against the backdrop of actual news reports about teen pregnancy from June 2008. The Pregnancy Pact takes a responsible look at the growing national trends of pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers, and we’ve taken great strides to ensure that the subject matter is depicted with sensitivity. At a time when nearly three in ten teenage girls in the U.S. will become pregnant and one in six girls will become a mother by the age of 20, the intent of this film is to raise awareness. Lifetime has partnered with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and will, together, utilize the film as an educational tool for both parents and their teens about this issue. We are proud that this film can open such a critical dialogue.