HAVING provided holistic assistance for 40 women in crisis pregnancies who were considering abortion due to financial reasons and lack of support, Friends for Life Project Director Diane Constantine is calling on Jamaicans to build back the, “It takes a village to raise a child” mentality and help a mother this Mother’s Day.

A non-profit project under the Love March Movement that provides emotional, physical, and spiritual support to women facing crisis pregnancies, Friends for Life aims to support women who choose to carry their babies to term by offering resources, counselling and assistance, functioning as a pro-life advocate in Jamaica.

Constantine shared that, over the past two years, the project has assisted 40 mothers and saved 41 babies — one mother gave birth to twins. Of the 40 women, nine of them came in contact with the organisation at a recent prayer vigil. In terms of the level of assistance provided to mothers, she said the organisation assists women with rental payments, groceries and baby supplies, job applications and job seeking, and even helped to rebuild one mother’s house following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

“The support has been critical to women choosing life. If you were to look at the broader picture of the 40 women, I would say about 80 per cent of those women were headed towards termination because of the inability to provide financially. Even out of this year’s vigil, the reasons given for considering termination — even amongst women who are employed, because we do have women who are employed — is that even though they’re employed, the fear was that they would not be able to provide for another child or for a new child, and so to be able to offer the woman in crisis pregnancy [some] financial support has been critical,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

The advocate stressed that providing practical support is one way Jamaica can help its birth rate crisis, noting that even married couples have walked through the doors of Friends for Life, sharing that they were considering abortion because they were not financially able to support a child, despite being a double-income unit.

Jamaica now has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund 2025 State of World Population report. The report says Jamaican women are now having an average of 1.3 children in their lifetime. That’s much lower than the 2.1 children needed to keep the population stable.

“We need to return to it takes a village to raise a child…we’ve had conversations with our women when we’re in that initial conversation of why do you think abortion is your best option, and I’ve had women say to me, ‘Because it’s me alone.’ When you get to the root of why it is [they’re] alone, a lot of it is pride and a lot of it is fear because of how the current village they have is making them feel, and we’ve had to do a lot of encouragement,” said Constantine.

She called on Jamaicans to refrain from being judgemental and selfish in their thinking, and to provide a climate where women feel supported.

“We need members of the village to understand that there is no requirement for you to buy all the groceries; we’re simply asking that you give one item out of your cupboard. There’s no requirement for you to feed the 5,000, just bring your own bread and your own fish and that’s how the village operates. When the village stops fearing that people are going to expect them to carry the weight, and when the village just understands that my little ‘mickle’ will help to make up the ‘muckle’, then we will find that we are, without any effort, just recalibrating, and we are going back into community care, community living,” she reasoned.

She further called on Jamaicans to show up for a mother this Mother’s Day, noting that even a simple gesture can make a difference.

“If you know of a woman who is not even pregnant and in crisis but she has a number of kids and she’s in crisis, and you can share your dinner with her, go ahead and do that now. Invite her and her kids out. We understand we can’t let any and anybody into our living space but meet up with them somewhere,” Constantine encouraged.

“If you don’t have the money, just call somebody who you know might be able to provide a grocery hamper for Mother’s Day. But outside of the money, encourage someone to sign a job recommendation, mentor someone, or walk with someone through their crisis. This Mother’s Day, ask the Lord to bring you into somebody’s life so that you can be your open door to them. That open door is not always money; money is the quickest, easiest, most practical thing. The scripture tells us that money answers all things, but I’m saying a person who doesn’t have the money, you have time. Help to keep a woman’s child or children when she gets a day off,” she stressed.

She also called on mothers to raise their child well, noting that if they steward the gift of a child well, the child will be a blessing.

“The Bible says children are a gift from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. I would also encourage them to believe where the Bible also says that when your children grow up, they will confront your enemies in the gate. They are like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior, and moms will be able to experience the blessing of this arrow if they allow somebody to help them to raise their children, because the children don’t just become a blessing just so, it actually is how you train them, it’s how you raise them up. Protect your gift, guard your gift with your life. Don’t let anybody corrupt your gift. Guard your gift so that your gift can become your blessing,” she encouraged.

Friends for Life meeting the needs of mothers in Hanover by providing them with baby supplies.