A vision which ‘burned in her chest’ since 1997 with God expressing anger at the indifference to the number of babies being aborted, even as Jamaicans were aghast over murder statistics, led Christina Milford to found the Pregnancy Resource Centre of Jamaica in Montego Bay, St James, in 2005.

“I had told the Lord I was ready to do what He wanted me to do. I didn’t know anything about abortion, I didn’t know it was an issue with Him; I only knew I wanted one [abortion] and the Lord stopped me. He said nobody speaks about the untold numbers of my children assaulted in the womb daily,” Milford told a sitting of the Jamaica Observer Press Club last Friday.

Today the trained engineer, who pulled back from the brink of a termination herself many years ago, along with a band of faithfuls, have helped more than 300 young girls carry their babies to full term.

“We provide holistic care. We help them to continue their education — we have had girls who have continued into college or through to university,” she relayed.

According to Milford, the knowledge gained by pregnant girls on the brink of despair “that there is a place, has saved many lives”.

“We have found that many of the younger ones have been thrown out of their house; they have to live with some man and start taking care of some man they can’t manage,” Milford told the
Jamaica Observer Press Club while sharing stories of several teens who, in becoming pregnant and attempting to get abortions, changed their minds after the centre’s intervention.

“It’s possible if we, as one little ministry, can impact so many lives. If throughout Jamaica there was even one place in each parish, oh my! A girl just needs support, just one person to support them,” she said passionately.

Noting however that the task can be “draining” at best, Milford expressed a desire to have “other women with the heart to love and care for women and other babies” join with the centre.

“We need more hands on deck,” she said, noting that the entity has three house mothers, an administrative worker, and receives assistance from volunteers from time to time.

She said the centre has continued to intervene primarily through support from Shared Hope International — an NGO working to prevent sex trafficking, restore victims, and bring justice to vulnerable women and children — and several overseas donors and local benefactors.

Dr Sheree Simpson, a member of Doctors for Life Jamaica who was also a guest at the Jamaica Observer Press Club, said while fear, economics, and relationships are the main drivers for abortion-seekers, she has never, in her over 30 years of general practice, seen a mother who decided to carry her child to full term wallow in regret.

“You see when they come back and decide they are going to go through with the pregnancy? Guys I don’t know the number of women over the years that changed their minds but all of whom — by the grace of God — have chosen to go through with their pregnancy, not one of them have been unhappy,” Simpson said.

The experienced medic said when women or girls who believe their only option is to abort seek her advice, her approach has become a staple.

“I’ve been in general practice since 1983, and during that time my stance has been to share with them things which a lot of doctors don’t share with them when they are thinking about abortion,” Simpson explained.

“One is that, ‘This is a baby that you are carrying.’ I try to share with them the development of their baby, depending on where they are in the pregnancy, and then I try to share the complications of abortions with them, which most women don’t have a clue what can happen when they have abortions in terms of the damage to their own womb, the risk to their life — even if it’s done by a gynaecologist,” she said.

Added to that, she said, are warnings about “the depression they can go through, the suicidal thoughts that will come”.

“They just don’t know any of these things. And a lot of them, when I’ve shared with them — especially with the complications — they step back,” she told Observer reporters and editors.

According to health officials, 30 to 60 abortions are being done in Jamaica per day.

Milford and Dr Simpson, along with several individuals and organisations in Jamaica, are participants in the 40 Days for Life internationally coordinated campaign that aims to end abortion locally through prayer and fasting, community outreach, and a peaceful all-day vigil in front of abortion businesses, for a 40-day period. The campaign’s Jamaica chapter began on February 14 and is being championed here by Love March Movement, led by Dr Daniel Thomas.