The U.S. state of Massachusetts is under shock after the authorities found out that 17 teenage girls from Gloucester High School have become pregnant at the same time.

The news is more shocking as the number is four times as high as the year before, Principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine in an article published Wednesday.

He said the girls, none over 16, made some kind of “pregnancy pact” pledging to raise their babies together. Last October, they went to the school clinic to get pregnancy tests and were very upset every time they found they were not pregnant. Moreover, the girls started talking of plans for baby showers, once they learned they were moms-to-be.

Sullivan also said one of the fathers is a 24-year-old “homeless guy.” In fact, all fathers are believed to be in their twenties and could face the possibility of being charged with having sex with minors.

School Committee chairman Greg Verga described the pact as “disturbing,” the Boston Herald reports. He also confirmed what Sullivan told Time magazine: “some of these pregnancies were not accidents.”

Sullivan couldn’t be reached for comment.

Mayor Carolyn Kirk, a member of the school committee, blamed the “hard economic time” the city is going through for the girls’ pact, the New York Times reports.

Lack of money seems to cut services, after-school programs, all having a serious impact on the social climate. Kids feel disappointed and decide to get pregnant believing a baby would give them love unconditionally or a status or “fill an empty space in their life,” Mayor Kirk added.

Some of the adults in Gloucester also blame broken families, adrift children, and movies like “Juno” and “Knocked Up,” which targets teenagers, making them believe that pregnancies are the best thing that could happen to them.

Officials are currently investigating the “pregnancy pact.”