Teenage pregnancy in Jamaica

 Few people would argue with the statement that one of the most precious of all of life's events is the birth of a child. This is certainly the case for a grown adult with an education, a financial future planned, and an emotional support system in place. However when the mother to be is a teenage girl there are concerns and considerations that limit some of the joy usually felt at the news of an impending birth. Teenage pregnancy is currently on downward spiral fortunately, but these young mothers face significant challenges to their futures, their health, and the health of their babies. 

Teenage girls account for nearly one quarter of all births in the West Indian island of Jamaica.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, contraceptive use among Jamaican teens is low. Data from Jamaica's National Family Planning Board shows 66 per cent of all births are not planned and among women under the age of twenty, 40 per cent have been pregnant at least once, and 85 per cent of these pregnancies are unplanned. Despite a strong Christian following in this Caribbean country of 2.6 million, many Jamaicans become sexually active as early as fourteen or younger. Too early sex, according to the Board, is associated with factors such as poverty, absence of male role models at home--nearly half of households are headed by single women--and cultural approval of early child-bearing, particularly in poor communities. Women in poor neighbourhoods who have not had a child by their twenties risk being taunted and labelled 'mules'--or sterile

Despite existing contraceptive distribution projects, many women and girls cannot access contraceptives at the right place, time and price. Young people may be embarrassed to ask and are often prevented from getting them by providers in clinics or pharmacies who can be judgemental, especially regarding sexually active young women. Politicians have not considered that many teens become pregnant involuntarily due to rape or incest, while others have confused sex for love, especially economically dependent girls with older, persuasive men.




Instead of blaming and punishing girls, More education on parenting, sex education and family planning is needed, particularly aimed at adolescents of both sexes, who represent 20 per cent of the population. Society needs to educate people. We have to begin in schools with adolescents, especially in the inner city, so the cycle can be broken'.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.