Pregnant mother of 10 urges women to be fruitful and multiply

Despite the backlash and ridicule she has received from some members of the public, Stacey-Ann Murray Brown, who is expecting her 11th child, firmly believes that more women should be fruitful and multiply.

"Di time ruff, man; but children fi born, man. Pickney fi born!" Murray Brown said. "It's a blessing to have your children, nuh matter how yuh get them. I get nine of them out of wedlock, two is in marriage and I'm a proud mother."

In 2022, the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica showed a decline in the island's general fertility rate (GFR) and its crude birth rate (CBR). During the period 2020 to 2022, the GFR decreased from 44.7 to 41.2, and the crude birth rate dropped from 12.4 to 11.4.

The GFR represents the number of live births in a geographic area in a year per 1,000 women of childbearing age (ages 15 to 49 years), while the CBR represents the number of live births per 1,000 in the population.

Recently, Acting Senior Medical Officer at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Dr Clayon Kelly, encouraged young, healthy Jamaicans to consider having children.

"You need persons who are healthy to have kids, and that's what's [not] happening. A lot of the healthy persons, fertile people, are not having kids," Kelly said

Murray Brown told THE STAR that she fails to understand why she was ridiculed for having so many children when the Bible says that women should multiply.

"I don't see the reason why I get bashed by my fellow women, they should be happy for me. I get a lot of opportunities to do abortion but I didn't, I bring them," the 40-year-old mother said. "Have yuh children, man. Have them, don't abort them, 'cause at the end of the day, you're going to need one in the future. Suh have them."

She also said that she fully understands that some Jamaicans face financial challenges and struggle to care for their children, but believes that parents should always aim to give their children the best.

"I don't know my mother. I grow very rough, but as a mother that go through all of those, I can tell you, the life me live, my children them don't live it. I give them the best," Murray Brown said, adding that although she was homeless at one point, she has never regretted having her children and is proud of who they are becoming.