Not everyone should be a parent Abuse survivor urges Jamaicans to think twice before having kids

As Jamaica grapples with declining birth rates and concerns about what fewer babies could mean for the country’s future, Veronica* believes the discussion should not only be about getting people to reproduce, but whether they are prepared to raise the children they bring into the world.

Veronica, who is in her late 30s, was sexually abused by her own father as a child. She says her experience taught her early that being biologically capable of producing a child does not automatically make someone fit to parent one.

“Biology made him my father. It did not make him a safe parent,” she told THE STAR.