The weekly sessions are noisy and unstructured. ''I try to give the girls a positive message by telling them how good it is that they keep coming,'' said Diane Medina, who has given out the money for the last 18 months and acts as an informal counselor to the girls.

''I don't preach,'' Mrs. Medina said. ''The girls get turned off by sermons and lectures.''

After collecting their money, most of the girls stay for an hour, although they are not required to. Over corn chips and soft drinks, they discuss everything from diapers to dates as their babies squirm in their laps.

''I wasn't expecting to have a baby so early,'' said 16-year-old Anna Freyta, whose son, Matthew, is 9 months old. ''I want to have more children but not right now. Maybe when I am 30.''

Miss Freyta said she liked the Planned Parenthood program because it gave her an opportunity to ''just talk about life.'' And with the seven dollars, she buys diapers, she said.

Rita Tafoya, 17, whose son, Lee Anthony, is 20 months old, said: ''Boys don't like you too much when you have to take your baby on dates. Having a baby has made me feel a lot older than my friends. It's hard because most of my freedom is gone.''

Unlike most of the girls, 16-year-old Maria Valdez lives with the father of her child, 9-month-old Christopher. ''I want my baby to have better things than we can give him,'' she said. ''Babies are wonderful but not when you are so young. I take birth control pills now. Before, I never thought I needed them.''

Not all the girls have children. Some participants had miscarriages and others had abortions. An honor code governs the group; the girls are not tested for pregnancy. One side benefit of the weekly meetings is that both children and mothers can be treated for illnesses at La Mariposa, a public health clinic that is in a low-income, largely Hispanic section of the city. Girls Called Responsible