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Stephen Mpofu, Perspective

Scenario 1: “Hello, pretty, I want you to have a feel of what I possess. Don’t fear, I’m on the pill. I’ll give you lots of cash to buy the things you want and show off to your friends.” An inveterate gallivanter behind the wheel woos a teenage schoolgirl in the front seat beside him after picking her up on her way home to the village from a sports day at her country school.

Scenario 2: “Are you on the pill, Sir, if I may ask?” A housewife responded to  a man who had given her a lift from a wedding party early in the night and wanted to be intimate with her. “If not, I don’t want to cause a scandal in our family and the community around by becoming pregnant in the absence of my husband who is on a training programme abroad and is on the pill.”

The two scenarios above are strong possibilities in the wake of a report that a contraceptive pill is on the way for men and against a worrying trend of increasing teenage pregnancies in our country today as well as with promiscuous men roaming our urban centres, in particular, like hungry lions on the hunt and chasing any skirt if not of a blood relative.

A private local radio station announced earlier this week that a contraceptive pill for men was on its way but gave no further details.

The report came on the back of a report  broadcast by the same station to the effect that moves were underway to ban abortions in the United States of America.

This communicologist tried in vain up to yesterday to get a comment from the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Harare on exactly when and why it been found necessary to rope in men on the pill in a country with a population of just over 16 million people.

The radio broadcast story from the US said Congress might have to weigh in as some states were likely to allow abortions to continue under the noses of government administrators there.

Here at home, some women celebrated the news about men also having to take the contraceptive pill.

“That is great news as men are the ones doing a lot of damage in so far as impregnating women is concerned,” said a housewife in Bulawayo who preferred anonymity.

She added: “For instance, a woman is pregnant for nine months before giving birth and during that period a man will probably have impregnated just as many women.”

Also in Bulawayo, a man who asked not to be identified commented: “While culturally it may be considered wrong, but putting men on the pill is the right thing to do.”

Birth control pill

Another housewife employed in a Government department in Harare also applauded the pending introduction of birth control pills for men. “That is wonderful news as men and women play equal reproductive roles and must therefore take turns in using the contraceptive pill.”

In conclusion, this writer, a family man in his own right believes strongly that fear of God’s wrath and the strong arm of the law should cause people who take contraceptive pills to desist from causing moral decay in society while parents, schools and the Church should play a pivotal role in instilling good morals for an upright society.