MUG SHOT 16 & Pregnant's Whitney Purvis arrested for stealing pregnancy test

MUG SHOT 16 & Pregnant’s Whitney Purvis arrested for stealing pregnancy test

Mar, 02, 2012 | AUTHOR: Darren O; | Related : 16 and Pregnant, Law and Order, Whitney Purvis

Whitney Purvis from the first season of 16 & Pregnant was arrested yesterday for allegedly trying to steal a pregnancy test from a Walmart in East Rome, Georgia. Man, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!

A police report indicates that Purvis, who is now 20-years-old, stowed away a First Response pregnancy test in her hooded jacket and took it to the restroom where she used it.

She then tried to make her way out of a side door but was caught by store security. She was placed under citizen’s arrest, because they aren’t official cops, and local authorities were contacted. Whitney was then taken to a nearby police station where she was booked for, “misdemeanor theft by shoplifting.”

This isn’t the first arrest in the family to make headlines as her mother April Michelle, who was pregnant at the same time as Whitney during her 16 & Pregnant episode, was arrested back in June for drug possession.

The retail cost of the test in question is $15.98. There was no mention of what the result of the test was.

Mug Shot: Splashnews

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Michelle

so sad. You can get a pregnancy test for $1 at the dollar tree. Idk what she was thinking
- its1999
  
  They’re free at the Dept. of Health! How embarrassing, stupid, and ironic. lol
  - Chelse
    
    No they are not. I live in GA too, and the pregnancy tests at the Health Dept. are $30, they are only free if your insurance covers them or you test positive and apply for pregnancy medicaid.
    
    Not only that, a lot of young girls don’t even known what the Health Dept is, much less where the offices are or what serviced they provide. That is the main reason sexual education is needed! So many girls get pregnant because they don’t know the facts (not saying it’s the case here, just making a general statement.)
    - Allison
      
      Stealing is not justifyable, no matter what.
      - Ami
        
        She never said anything about her stealing. The only thing she said anything about what the pregnancy tests at the Health Departments and that these young teens need to be educated about sex.
Caroline

Exactly what I was going to post, why not go to the dollar store? In fact the dollar store pregnancy tests are more accurate in studies then the more costly tests.
tab

you can’t fix stupid.
this girls son has some serious medical issues. WTF is she doing having sex and getting pregnant again?
- Chelse
  
  So because she has a THREE YEAR OLD who has a medical condition she can’t have sex?
  Obviously she should have been more careful, but even if she’s taking birth control she can still have a scare. No BC is 100% effective, even taken perfectly.
  
  I’m not defending her stealing the test, that’s just out right f**king stupid. But saying she’s not allowed to have sex because she’s already got a child is utterly ridiculous, I have a 2 year old son. I still screw my fiance.
  - tab
    
    no, if you can’t afford a pregnancy test, let alone raising a child, you shouldn’t have sex. because you’re right-nothing is 100% guaranteed except abstaining.
    - Mandy
      
      Having sex is not a “right” if you can’t afford the consequences.
    - Caroline
      
      When my health insurance raised maternity dedutibles to 9k + 20% I didn’t touch my husband until we made a permanent birth control decision. Most of the girls paid 0 via medicaid to have their kids. It is sad the pregnancy test costs more then the pregnancy for these girls.
      - Mandy
        
        Exactly, because you are a responsible adult.
  - Allison
    
    Why are you defending her? Hoes gotta stick together, I guess.
    - Chelse
      
      Shut up troll.
      
      I’m not defending her, LIKE I SAID IN MY FIRST COMMENT.
      I don’t agree with her stealing, nor did I said having sex was a “right”. I stated that telling someone they can’t have sex based solely on the fact that they have a child,even one with a medical condition, is utterly unrealistic and stupid.
      
      And how am I a hoe? You obviously need a dictionary, because clearly you fail to understand that to be engaged to someone is to be in a committed relationship with said person. Sex is a perfectly natural and normal human behavior, there’s nothing wrong with it and it doesn’t make you a ‘hoe’ to have sex with the guy you’ve been with for 5 years, thank you very much.
      - tab
        
        you need to calm down. i never said that you shouldn’t have sex if you have children. you’re reading way too much in to my comment.
        she was so young when she had her son. she didn’t have a job, neither did the father. her son has serious medical issues that she hasn’t had to shell out ONE SINGLE PENNY for. she has absolutely NO business having sex in that kind of a situation. there are other ways to, ahem, be satisfied without having actual intercourse.
        
        Chelse
        
        My second comment was in no way directed towards you. It was in respond to the jerk who called me a hoe.
        
        Having a child young is not a deal sentence. I had my son at 18. My situation is very different from hers however, regarding that my fiance has a very good job and I was working at the time I was pregnant.
        
        The simple fact is that people are going to have sex, and just because her son has state insurance doesn’t mean she’s “shouldn’t” be having it; what she SHOULD be doing is making sure she’s on birth control and using condoms.
        and for that matter, you don’t know if she pays for her son’s insurance or not- there are versions of state insurance where parents still pay monthly dues and co-pays. We had it when our son was first born before my fiance finished college and got his job.
Paige

Hopefully her test came back negative, because raising a baby costs WAY more than $15, and she cant even afford that.
- Jamie
  
  I agree, Paige!
jane

Wow, I had hopes this girl was going to make it. I know she split with her child’s father, and I thought that might be a positive step. I wonder if she’s still in nursing school. I’ve seen those tests in the Dollar Tree for $1. What on earth??? Some type of dollar store is usually near a Wal-Mart. I always have a lot of concern about girls like her that have mothers with drug problems.
Ellen

Planned parenthood offers free pregnancy tests, not sure if they have locations in GA though.
MaryJ

well she looks kinda happy in her mugshot so im guessing it came up neg!
Lisa

How many of these girls have mugshots now?!? I’m going to make a collage for these winners.
Tiffany

it looks like she has only half of an eyebrow
- CiCi
  
  I thought the same thing, Tiffany! Somehow that distracted me from the whole rest of the story!
KayKosa

In a discussion elsewhere about the ethical problems of this show, and how MTV could improve in that area, someone suggested (in addition to counseling and computerized baby/budget classes) “lose the baby daddies.”

Meaning no more money for them, no screen time during 16 & Pregnant, and in Teen Mom only in special cases – and still with no money. (Their examples were Gary, Corey, and Tyler, I think).

The idea made some people mad but the reasons made sense.

When I think about the girls that got pregnant when I was in high school, I can only remember one whose baby daddy stayed involved. Of all the girls with serious boyfriends, I know of only 2 who got married, and only one of those couples is still together.

High school relationships don’t usually last very long. They’re not supposed to.

Most of the time, when a real life teenage girl gets pregnant, she knows from day 1 that if she decides to keep the baby, she’s going to be a single mom – at least until she eventually finds her “grown-up” life partner.

When a TV show comes in and offers a boy a financial incentive to stay involved with a girl who happened to get pregnant as the result of a high school hookup, it literally “stages a scene” and “reality” flies out the window!

It creates drama, which of course the producers want, but we’ve all seen the devastating effect on these young girls.

At the most vulnerable time of their young lives, we see how easily they forget why the boy is there, and confuse TV fantasy with their own reality that will go on long after the cameras are gone.

They’re virtually encouraged to build up unrealistic expectations about him, his feelings – and their own – as well as their relationship.

As a formula for drama that continues on into the girl’s Teen Mom season, it works great.

But they aren’t just “characters” on a reality show. They’re real girls, with real babies.

The situation of a teen girl raising a baby has more than enough drama and conflicts and problems just by itself to fill up an episode.

How much of that doesn’t even get shown?

Instead we get endless scenes of sullen, reluctant “baby daddies” playing video games and ignoring the girl’s tearful pleas to variously pay attention to her, stop hooking up with other girls, love her forever, or at least help her change a diaper right now so she can study, sleep, or take a shower?

I’m not saying every teenaged mother is a competent, mature, and 100% ready and able to handle every aspect of parenting.

But I do wonder if some of the ones on Teen Mom would be such hot messes if MTV hadn’t paid these boys to complicate their lives and exploit their emotions at a time when they’re struggling with everything from pregnancy hormones to the stresses of giving birth and trying to care for an infant before they’ve finished growing up themselves!

I admit I’m not a fan of “kids having kids.” Maybe because I’m older, or maybe because I know so many people who were children of teen moms, and how it affected their lives.

Being a teenaged mom is hard enough without being exploited by a TV show.

MTV has an opportunity – and the resources – to do a lot of good with this show.

But with the exception of providing Leah with money to pay some of her baby’s medical bills, it seems to be doing more harm than good to the moms and babies.

Maybe they could try just one “baby daddy-free” season, just to see what a difference it would make.
- Mandy
  
  It’s hard to follow along with what you wrote because you spaced everything out so much, making me pause when I didn’t need to pause. I didn’t bother finishing reading it.
  - KayKosa
    
    LOL No problem! I bet you’re great at math, though – and I’m so not!
Sweet Venom

MTV picked a winner!
Kelli

Stop making excuses for this girl- she’s 20 years old, PLUS the fact that she has a child, meaning she should be mature/educated enough to know that stealing is wrong. No matter what the situation. She’s not a kid anymore. She lost the right to use that excuse the day she decided to have sex and get pregnant. I get so sick of hearing people make excuses for these girls when the repeatedly do the things they do by saying “oh they’re still young”, WRONG. You’re an adult now, you have a child, get your head out of your ass and act like it.
Mandy

I bet she must have been all tweeked out acting really suspicious for them to catch her. If she supposedly took the test in the bathroom and threw it out then why were they even looking at her? Did someone notice her before and go check to restroom trash can? I think there is more to this story. This probably wasn’t the first time she has stolen. If she can’t even afford a pregnancy test, how does she afford to feed and clothe the child she already has?