GLOUCESTER, Mass. -- An alarming number of North Shore teenagers who attend a local high school are pregnant, and some may have made a pact to get pregnant.

NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that Superintendent of Schools Christopher Farmer said that it's not just a school-wide issue, but also a community issue.

VIDEO: Did Teens Have Pregnancy Pact?

"I remember finding out one person was pregnant. That was like, incredible, and that 17, 22, like, these numbers are outrageous," student Mollie Wagner said.

The school department said that there are 17 pregnancies among Gloucester High School's 1,200 students.

"I am friends with a couple of them," Wagner said. "I mean it's their decisions -- whatever they want to do. You won't catch me getting pregnant in high school. No way," Wagner said.

"Many of the young women don't see a lot of direction or purpose in their lives. Many of them, I think, see themselves as not having a loving relationship, necessarily," Farmer said.

Some of the teens may have had a pregnancy pact so that they could raise their children together, Harper reported.

"Having a baby fulfills two functions -- one is that they have the love of a male, well they believe they have the love of a male. I am not saying that is all they have, but they believe they have it. Then, the baby gives them a sense of status and purpose which they wouldn't necessarily have in another way," Farmer said.

"I guess it is up to them, but I wouldn't want a baby at 17," Wagner said.

Brianna Porter graduated last week. She and many other teens said that the pact story has been overstated.

"I heard that there were two girls who were best friends and they wanted to, like, be pregnant together," she said.