More people opting to have just one child, says physician

 

As the discussion continues about Jamaica's declining birth rate, a family physician has disclosed that more people are opting to have no more than one child. 

 

In a Gleaner report published Thursday, Victoria Jubilee Hospital's ward manager for labour and delivery, Sister Dawn Williams Gordon, said deliveries at the country's largest maternity facility have tumbled from more than 500 last year to just over 300 for the comparable period this year.

 

In response to the report, Dr. Jackie Campbell says reproductive decisions are influenced by social, economic and cultural factors. 

 

"I speak with my patients. I'm a family physician, and they will come in and they say, 'Look here, Doc, I'm having one child. Children are expensive.' Men say that to me. Women say that. And the next thing I think that we need to talk about - this is opening a bag of worms here - is the fact that more and more persons are coming to my office, and they are pregnant females, young females, and they are requesting terminations of the pregnancy. And I have to say to them that is not a service I offer."

 

Dr. Campbell said while the report mentioned the fertility rate, she believes the pregnancy rate could also be considered. 

 

"There are issues of infertility, yes, but I don't believe that that is going to be a major issue here. It's that in terms of the falling birth rate that we're seeing or the birth deliveries that we are seeing, not just at Victoria Jubilee, but right throughout the country, it would be due to some of the factors that we have spoken about. Women want to delay delivery. And also we have to remember that pregnancy is a risk, and more and more women know that pregnancy is a risk," she explained. 

 

Dr. Campbell was speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.

 

Gender psychology expert Professor Karen Carpenter, who was also a guest on the programme, said focusing solely on women to address the declining birth rate is ineffective and ignores the role of men.

 

She urged men to be more responsible and to "step up" to support women in the child-rearing process.