Jamaican Men and Unwanted Pregnancy

But what happens to the man? Why is he spared any level of accountability?

I am not saying that a woman should not protect herself and that she should also make decisions that are in her best self interest. But what I am saying is that what happens to the man? How did she get pregnant? Why wasn’t the community trouncing him? Why wasn’t his family and friends incensed at him? Why was he allowed to carry on his life unscathed and the girl left in agony and despair!

As far as I am concerned both sexes are responsible for a pregnancy and it is inequitable and an injustices that women are the ones who are blamed for unwanted pregnancies.

What about the man who impregnates a fifteen year old girl?

Should he have known better that to sleep with a child? Shouldn’t it be his sense of values and responsibility being questioned and not that of the teenage girl?

What about the men uptown who have liaisons with girls outside of their social class and when the female becomes pregnant refuses to acknowledge the relationship or his paternal responsibilities. Shouldn’t he be castigated for impregnating a woman and then denying it on the basis that he is married and that his friends and social circle will discover that he was copulating with an underclass? Shouldn’t he have known that he is married and that he should have the morality to resist infidelity and to use a condom if he is going to have extramarital affairs?

What about those men who mislead women into believing that they want a relationship and then disappear when they discover that she is pregnant?

Shouldn’t the society hold these men accountable for this irresponsible and callow behavior?

What about our teenage boys when they impregnate girls?

Why are they allowed to carry on with their lives and the girl’s life disrupted?

Shouldn’t the disruption be for both sexes so that they both understand the consequences of their actions?

Then there are the mothers who whenever they discover that their son has impregnated a girl that they perceived is not good enough for their son; encourage their sons to deny paternity and refuse to acknowledge the baby as their kin! What about those mothers?

Should they be scolded for their unsavory and contemptible behavior?

Our society is partially responsible for the many fatherless children that are roaming the streets of Jamaica because we refuse to emphasize paternal liability when our men get women pregnant. Additionally there are women who condemn a woman who attempts to highlight this social defect by labeling a woman who fights a man to take care of his child as weak and unfeminine.

I do not know where they got their ideologies on femininity and strength of character but as for me any man who does not take responsibility for his actions is a weak and unsavory. I will under no circumstances support any man who abandons a woman that he gets pregnant. I believe that women who insist on raising a child without a father should be hailed and paid homage for their bravado! For me that’s a formidable woman, resilient and strong.