Men urged to join the fight against abortions
Men are being urged to support their unborn children in order to curtail the pursuit of abortion by desperate women who are fearful of raising children alone.
According to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), some 22,000 abortions are performed in Jamaica annually. Despite the practice being illegal, women risk going against the law daily to end the life of their babies to avoid being a single parent, among other things.
President for Doctors For Life, Dr. Doreen Brady-West, says while the reason for pursuing an abortion differs, there are those who pursue this option because they are dealing with a crisis situation.
“There are many women as well who know it’s illegal, but the circumstances under which they find themselves make them override that to go and seek abortion because they are under dire circumstances, either economically, in terms of their education, in terms of their social or marital situation, and so on,” she said.
While her group offers physical, medical, and emotional support to many of these women so that they are empowered to keep their babies, she believes the men have an important role to play in ensuring that women carry their pregnancies full-term.
“A lot of women would not do abortions if men supported them. So, in many cases, [it is] something a man does not do, does not say, does not provide, that pushes a woman towards this choice,” said Dr. Brady-West, who added, “We feel that the men must also be brought into this healing and this dedication to reduce abortion.”
An estimated 47% of Jamaica’s children are said to live in single-parent homes with their biological mothers. The high number of absentee fathers is believed to be a contributing factor to Jamaica’s unusually high crime rate, as well as the emerging issue of paternity fraud. Paternity fraud is when a woman declares a man to be her child’s father who is not the biological father. Sometimes, this is done because the man who was deceived in accepting paternity is more financially stable and can provide for the child.
The Doctors for Life team recognises that a woman who has had an abortion is still of value, and so much effort is placed in getting them to heal from the hurt and pain associated with committing the act.
“We want to say, okay, you have done this. It is not a good thing, but we want to provide the resources that can help this woman to be reconciled, to be healed, and to avoid repeating. And we recognise that there are men, post-abortive men. Most people don’t realise that men suffer too after abortion,” she noted.
It is not known to what extent the country’s high abortion rate has contributed, if at all, to Jamaica’s worrying infant mortality figures. Jamaica’s neonatal mortality rate (deaths among newborns) moved from 9.2 per 100,000 in 2000 to 14.6 in 2021. During the same period, infant mortality rates moved from 13.2 to 17.7.
Doctors for Life was officially launched last January. The group intends to increase its reach in the coming year in order to educate persons about the dangers of abortions as well as the alternative. Last year, they interacted with youths, including medical students and those at different churches, to gauge their knowledge on the issue. They intend to do more of this, in addition to providing support to pregnant women.
“We recognise that we have a moral imperative to provide for these persons, not only education but also to provide alternatives that are life-honouring and life-affirming alternatives,” Dr. Brady-West said.
