Dear Editor,

Jamaica’s future is at serious risk, our fallen fertility rate may be the most pressing challenge of the next two decades.

Recently, both Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton and Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness expressed significant concern about this profound national problem. We need a fertility rate of 2.1 to grow the nation, but, according to the United Nations Population Fund 2025 State of the World Report, our fertility rate fell to 1.3. We cannot replace ourselves, the future of our economy is at risk because much of our workforce will soon retire with much less people to replace them. The situation is, therefore, dire. We need urgent, practical, and realistic solutions.

Before I offer a solution, a more detailed analysis of the problem may prove useful. The reality is that in the early 1970s Jamaica’s fertility rate was 4.3, more than double national replacement. This was deemed to be too high, so the Government, through the National Family Planning Board, launched what, sadly, appears to have been Jamaica’s most successful public awareness campaign: ‘Two is better than too many’.

Armed with new and improved contraceptives and a dangerous idea, in my opinion, that two or less children was best for national development and personal fulfilment, they set out to reduce the nations fertility rate. This idea put children in economic terms and signalled a cultural shift that was engineered and very successful. The nation bought the message — hook, line, and sinker.

Another seismic shift happened in 1976 under the leadership of then Minister of Health Kenneth McNeil. Despite abortion being illegal, a policy was crafted and enacted that allowed government-funded abortions at a newly formed Fertility Management Unit at the Glen Vincent Health Centre in Cross Roads, St Andrew. This unit operated for more than a decade. Since then, sadly, abortion has spread far and wide, with the Caribbean Policy Research Institute estimating that each year some 22,000 children are aborted in the wombs of Jamaican women, with more conservative estimates citing 10,000 per year. Compare this to our 32,000 births in 2024 and you can begin to grasp the gravity of the problem. We are killing somewhere between 30 per cent and 60 per cent the number of babies as those being born. That’s about 35 babies killed each day in the wombs of Jamaican women.

Now our current crisis is all about the need for more live births, so here’s the maths we seldom hear: if Jamaica cut its abortion rate in half and boosted live births, even modestly, the total fertility rate could move closer to the replacement threshold — not instantly, but significantly over time.

Many women in crisis pregnancies just need practical support and emotional care. The Pregnancy Resource Centre of Jamaica in Montego Bay, with minimal staffing and funding, has been able to rescue over 350 babies from abortion over the last 20 years with a staff of less than five people at any given time and a limited budget. Eight babies have been rescued by 40Days for Life’s Kingston campaign since February 18, 2026.

What if the Government set proactive, robust, and practical structures in place to support women in crisis pregnancies in every community in Jamaica? Every health centre needs to have a pregnancy resource centre where women in crisis pregnancies can get access to counselling, emotional support, and practical help to keep their babies and strengthen their families. And what if we set ourselves to undo what the ‘Two is better than too many’ campaign did, with a full-scale public relations push, backed by incentives that promote larger and stronger families?

While we seek to solve the fertility crisis, let us not forget these two important historical situations which must be taken into account as we chart the course for our nations future. Are we willing to do what it takes to save Jamaica? I hope so.

Dr Daniel Thomas

President

Love March Movement

danielthomaschristian@yahoo.com