The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir

The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir, by American activist Gaby Rodriguez and co-written by American author Jenna Glatzer, is based on the teenage experiences of Rodriguez, who engaged in an elaborate hoax and social experiment where she faked a pregnancy while in high school, intending to chronicle how she was treated differently by her peers and teachers. This served as her senior project. Although her mother was in on the experiment, she kept the truth even from her siblings and her boyfriend’s parents. She eventually revealed the truth in front of the entire school, and used her experiences as the basis for The Pregnancy Project. Her hoax became national news and increased dialogue about how society treats teenage mothers. The book became a bestseller and is frequently taught in schools. It has been honored by the American Library Association as part of its “Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.” In 2012, The Pregnancy Project was adapted into a TV movie for the Lifetime Network.

Gaby Rodriguez is a senior in high school. An honor student with a good reputation, she is assigned a senior research project. At first, she chooses foster care as a topic and meets a girl who is in the system. The girl says her mother became pregnant with her as a teenager and chose to give her up. The girl reveals that she has just found out she is pregnant at the same age as her mother had been. This influences Gaby to change her project. She has always worried about becoming another pregnant teen given how often it happens in her school. She decides to fake being pregnant for her senior project. She wants to see the reactions of people and what will be said about her. She has to get permission from the principal, who warns her that this will essentially take over her senior year and it may be very difficult. She agrees to commit to the project and promises not to back out before it is over. She tells only a few people—her mother, boyfriend, and best friend. They are worried about it, but agree to support her. She starts her project by pretending to feel sick one day at school and making sure another girl overhears her talking to her best friend. Sure enough, the girl spreads the word and soon many people are talking about her, including teachers.

Soon, many people are making negative comments to Gaby, or outright ignoring her. Although it is hard, she perseveres. She becomes close to Tyra, the foster girl whom she interviewed. They go shopping for baby clothes together. Gaby’s boyfriend, George, has a hard time dealing with the experiment because his family is strongly against the relationship now. At home, Gaby’s protective brother Javi is angry when he finds out and hates George for what he thinks is his role in it. They all act as if Gaby has ruined her life, but she is determined to prove them wrong. At school, people continue to insult Gaby, and many of her friends drop her. She learns who her real friends are. Her best friend and her boyfriend keep journals of all the nasty comments they hear, so Gaby can use them in her project later on. Gaby finds that she is getting so caught up in the project she is becoming a different person. She becomes agitated by how much she is losing and develops a nasty temper. She and George get into a major fight because she thinks he is getting tired of her and they break up.



Months go on, Gaby’s “pregnancy” advances, and the time comes for her to reveal the experiment to the school. She plans to have a ceremony where she tells everyone at once; she gets permission from the teachers to go ahead with it. However, Tyra overhears this and is angry when she finds out Gaby was lying to her. Although Gaby is hurt when Tyra ends their friendship, she knows she has to continue. On the day of the assembly, Gaby is extremely nervous when she sees everyone out in the audience. She goes out, boosted by the support of the few people who know. She speaks about her research, about the insults she experienced, and how she was treated differently. She then reveals the prosthetic stomach she has been wearing, taking it off, and explaining that she has been trying to prove how stereotypes affect people. People in the audience are shocked, but they applaud her for her bravery. She loses a lot of her friends who are angry about being lied to, but most of them were the ones who treated her differently. She believes in what she did, and makes up with Tyra. The project goes viral, making news around the country, and Gaby becomes known as a voice for a group that is often ignored and disrespected.

Gaby Rodriguez is an American activist best known for her social experiment and senior project, which led to the writing of The Pregnancy Project. Now attending Columbia Basin College in Washington, she is considered one of the fastest-rising Latina activists of her generation.

Jenna Glatzer is an American author and ghostwriter, who has collaborated with celebrities, including Celine Dion. She is the author of twenty-eight books, ranging in subject from memoirs, to children’s picture books, to parenting and self-help books.