The Editor, Sir:

Upon reading the story pub-lished Sunday, August 10, entitled 'I was aborted! Mother, child happy procedure was botched' I was incredibly shocked to see one of Jamaica's problems and solutions written in the SAME letter! After reading that article I have to ask: Does anyone NOT see the problem with this picture?!? Let us analyse key elements of Deborah Smith's heroic yet sadly revealing story.

First, though she was raised in the Church she found herself pregnant. This is not surprising. After all, being called to Christ does not take away ones ability to reproduce! But it also shows that Christians are not perfect as many of us would like to pretend. She admits she "was afraid, mainly because of [her] mother who grew [her] up in the right way. She was a nurse and a Christian, ensuring that [Deborah] went to church." While Deborah feels she was raised in the 'right' way, she was so blinded by fear that she attempted to abort the child. Jamaica, something is not right here! Is this healthy fear!?!? Such a reaction is incredibly unhealthy presuming Deborah was raised the 'right' way. Such ungodly fear is all too often instilled in our children, and such responses are all too common in Jamaica.

Second, she goes on to state that when her 'Christian' mother found out, her mother's friend (presumably another 'Christian') suggested an abortion.

Societal concerns

What would make another woman suggest such a thing? Perhaps she too was concerned with societal concerns, which are all the wrong concerns. Ironically, it was Deborah's own mother that suggested she keep the child.

Third, upon arrival at the hospital the disgraceful nurses heaped insults and shame upon the young Deborah. Yet another shameful phenomenon in our Jamaican 'Christian' society.

The problem is our warped culture of sex both in secular and religious Jamaica.

Teen pregnancies and abortions are increasing in Jamaica. The cause and solution to both issues are all too clear. It is our unhealthy culture of sex that leads our young women and men down this path. Unfortunately, Deborah's choice to abort her child was based largely in part on fear instilled by her Christian mother, and fear of society. I don't recall reading anything about financial concerns, or her ability to raise a child, or fear of her health about having a child while physically so young. It surely was not the boyfriend: they later went on to get married. The preponderance of issues appears to be fear of the Christian mother and fear of what society would think.

It is well known that the topic of sex rarely emerges in the Church as it should. When will our citizens learn that this method of raising children is not effective? If it were effective our teen birth rates, HIV rates and even homicidal tendencies would all be different, but they are NOT; instead they continue to increase.

Enough talk! Here are some solutions for the Church: No amount of prayer breakfasts in a futile attempt to appease God, like pagans trying to appease their gods can change these statistics in Jamaica until we practise intelligence and adapt within the realm of the one true God. Adapting does NOT mean SANCTIONING promiscuity and premarital sex. Rather it means teaching the young ones about sex before they learn from Lexington Steele or learn on their own to their detriment. They also need to be taught how to deal with their natural bodily functions.

Intelligence

More important, teach them to really and truly be in one accord with God and not be concerned with what the neighbours or even what preacher man may think.

The Church must raise its level of intelligence and maturity when dealing with young adults. So Jamaican Church 'leaders', please walk away with two lessons:

1) Let us be mature and boldly educate our children in the Church and at home on the issues of sex. Do not make sex taboo. Teach truthfully and correctly that while sex within marriage is God's intention, sex is NOT inherently bad and falling short of that will not damn one to hell. God is a forgiving God.

2) The 'holier-than-thou' method of raising a child is counter-productive. As displayed by Deborah, she was so inebriated by fear of her mother and society that she attempted even more drastic measures. We are allowed to make mistakes and should not be controlled by society.

What would Jesus do?

Stop and ask yourself what would Jesus say to an unwed young female that found herself pregnant? Let me give you an answer: He would not behave like many of us so-called 'Christians.'

I am, etc.,

JAMES McBEAN MPP

jmcbean2@jhu.edu

Institute for Policy Studies

Johyn Hopkins University