Pregnancy ruse starts media chase for girl

Media from around the world are going gaga for Gaby.

Calls from regional, national and international media outlets continued to flood phone lines at Toppenish (Wash.) High School, two days after the student revealed she spent the last 6 1/2 months faking a pregnancy for her senior project.

On Friday, Principal Trevor Greene said he received his first overseas media inquiry: from the BBC.

Greene is serving as the “point person” for Gaby Rodriguez, the 17-year-old A-student who spent the bulk of her senior year pretending to be pregnant as a social experiment examining “stereotypes, rumors and statistics.”

“People think the project’s over, and it’s not over,” Greene said Friday, noting the media reaction is now part of the project.

Only a handful of people – Greene, and Rodriguez’s mom and boyfriend among them – knew about the project, a culminating assignment required for graduation.

The story was first published Thursday in the Yakima Herald-Republic, and was picked up by wire services.

Friday morning, two literary agents based in New York City contacted the Yakima newspaper looking to get in touch with Rodriguez. So did Fox News, the “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” and four film producers.

CBS’ “Good Morning America” aired a segment Friday morning.

Gaby is on a field trip with her English class in Ashland, Ore., this weekend. When she returns, she and her mother are slated to meet with Greene to discuss requests for interviews.