Friends for Life backs 40 mothers in crisis, urges wider circle of care this Mother’s Day

After standing beside 40 mothers in crisis pregnancies who had weighed ending their pregnancies because money was tight and no reliable network surrounded them, Diane Constantine, who directs Friends for Life, wants Jamaicans to dust off the old wisdom that “it takes a village to raise a child” and reach out to a mother this Mother’s Day.

Friends for Life sits inside the Love March Movement as a charitable effort. It backs women navigating crisis pregnancies with counsel and care across emotional, bodily and faith dimensions, supplies tangible items and guidance, and speaks publicly for life in Jamaica by championing women who decide to carry their pregnancies to completion.

Constantine said that inside the last twenty-four months the scheme has walked with 40 mothers and seen 41 infants born alive; one woman delivered twins. Nine among the 40 first engaged the group during a fresh prayer vigil.

On what concrete aid looks like, she listed help with rent, supermarket bills and newborn essentials, résumés and job hunts, and noted crews restored one woman’s dwelling once Hurricane Melissa had passed.

“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.

She argued that steady, hands-on assistance offers one route through Jamaica’s shrinking births, adding that married pairs have also entered the office saying termination seemed inevitable because their earnings still could not stretch to another child, even with two pay cheques in the home.

Figures in the United Nations Population Fund’s 2025 State of World Population report place Jamaica among the territories with the weakest fertility on the planet. The survey puts mean lifetime births among Jamaican women at about 1.3, well under the roughly 2.1 children demographers associate with a steady population.

“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 pressed the public to drop harsh judgment and tight-fisted attitudes so women sense backing rather than isolation.

“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 also asked islanders to mark Mother’s Day by showing up for a mother, insisting small kindness still shifts outcomes.

“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.

Constantine likewise spoke to mothers rearing children, saying faithful stewardship of that gift can turn the child into lasting 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.

Separately, outreach teams with Friends for Life have been lining up infant necessities for mothers in Hanover.