By Diara Springer
What started as a young student’s stirring of conscience has blossomed into one of Barbados’ most impactful family support organisations. Unborn Justice is celebrating its tenth anniversary of providing support to expectant parents. The organisation, which has helped bring over 100 babies into the world, continues to expand its services while maintaining its core mission of supporting women who face challenging pregnancies.
Executive Director Kamille Martindale’s connection to this cause began earlier than most might expect.
“It started about 11 to 12 years ago, when I would have actually been going to secondary school. For some reason, abortion was something that interested me. Not the procedure itself but the issue of abortion is what interested me,” she recalled.
This early interest later crystallised during her time at Barbados Community College (BCC). A documentary shown in her Spanish class became the catalyst for what would eventually become her life’s work.
“My Spanish teacher at BCC made us watch a documentary about abortion. That was a turning point in my life. I knew that I wanted to do something about it,” Martindale explained.
The seed of that early conviction grew into action when she met a like-minded colleague, Shavonne Grosvenor, while working at Sagicor around the age of 22. “I wanted to be able to help women who may feel that abortion is the only option because of financial challenges and stuff like that,” said Martindale. This shared passion would eventually lead to the formation of Unborn Justice.
The organisation’s approach to challenges reflects their dedicated focus and unwavering commitment to their mission.
“We are just focusing on the work that we believe that we’ve been called to do,” Martindale stated. “We don’t focus on the backlash or focus on other people’s opinions . . . every time we stop what we’re doing to respond to something, that’s less time that we are actually committing to the women, the babies and the fathers that we serve.”
Their impact is measurable and growing.
“Last year, we celebrated our 100th baby. I think now we’re at 105,” Martindale said. “Being able to actually see the fruit of your labour and seeing the babies coming into the office as newborns and then eventually crawling pulling all things in the office and then walking. It’s really a beautiful sight to behold.”
The numbers only tell part of the story. The organisation’s success is perhaps better measured in the transformations they witness in their clients. “Seeing them go from those scared women to the empowered women that leave the programme . . . women that feel more equipped to take on motherhood through the classes that we do, through counselling, through our peer counselling programmes, to see the change in them is definitely one of the biggest achievements.”
The organisation’s growth and development has been significantly influenced by their partnership with Heartbeat International. After attending a Heartbeat International conference in 2016, Unborn Justice gained valuable insights into operating a pregnancy centre.
“There is where we learned about pregnancy centres and it became a blueprint that we could follow for our work,” Martindale noted. “Heartbeat continues to train our staff and help us, equipping us for the work that we are doing.” This partnership proved instrumental, as just a year later, they were able to open their physical centre in Barbados.
To mark their decade of service, Unborn Justice has organised several celebratory events and will release ten commemorative videos.
Unborn Justice has ambitious plans for expansion. “Within the next ten years, we definitely will have our own building. We want to be able to expand our staff so that we can serve more clients, more babies,” Martindale said. The organisation also aims to introduce ultrasound services, potentially evolving into a medical clinic similar to many pregnancy centres in the United States.
“Most of the pregnancy centres in the US are actually medical clinics offering ultrasounds, prenatal care . . . . That was not our original plan, but who knows, maybe God will lead us in that direction.”
As Unborn Justice reflects on its first decade, Martindale emphasised that their success has been possible through widespread community support. “We have endless people that contribute and just drop off things at the office.” She encouraged continued partnership through various means, from donating baby supplies to volunteering or inviting them to speak at churches and organisations.
The organisation’s impact extends beyond individual families to the broader community.
“The last ten years was possible because of generous selfless people,” Martindale reflected.
