Preloader

Eleven years ago, I owned a self-publishing business that was not meeting my family’s financial needs. One Sunday I learned from folks at my church that our local pregnancy resource center was looking for an Executive Director. I had no idea what a pregnancy resource center was, but I was desperate for a job so I applied and was hired. Eleven years ago, as a new director, I attended my first Care Net conference in Atlanta, GA, and came back home ready to dig in my heels at my new job. Since then, I have had the privilege of serving as Executive Director for two pregnancy resource centers. I have come to realize that PRC’s form the frontlines of the pro-life movement in the U.S. They aren’t activists pushing for legislation or lining up voters, but they are daily meeting women who are in the midst of crises because of unplanned pregnancies. They are making a difference in the lives of despairing women who may be or are definitely considering abortion.

“I have come to realize that PRC’s form the frontlines of the pro-life movement in the U.S. ”

A 2018 report, titled “A Half Century of Hope, a Legacy of Life and Love”, which was released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) gives some extensive and well researched numbers on the work of pregnancy resource centers.

  • “In 2017, pregnancy centers provided almost 2,000,000 people with free services, with estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million annually.
  • 2,752 center locations nationwide provide vital services including medical services, parenting programs, and sexual risk avoidance education.
  • More than 7 in 10 locations offer free ultrasounds (up 24 percent since 2010).
  • 400,100 hours of free services were contributed by credentialed nurse sonographers and registered diagnostic medical sonographers in 2017.
  • 100 mobile units with ultrasound are on the road to bring services to women out in the community.
  • 30,000 contacts per month reach Heartbeat International’s Option Line hotline and email/chat lines.
  • 67,400 volunteers serve pregnancy centers, including an estimated 7,500 medical professionals who freely give of their time and skills.
  • Centers carried out 679,600 free pregnancy tests in 2017.
  • 295,900 moms and dads attended parenting courses.
  • 24,100 after-abortion support clients were seen in 2017 (services include support, counseling, and referral to professional help when appropriate for both women and men).
  • More than 1 million students attended community-based sexual risk avoidance education presentations in 2017.”

(A Half Century of Hope, a Legacy of Life and Love, September 5, 2018, Moira Gaul and Mai Bean, Charlotte Lozier Institute,)

“In 2017, pregnancy centers provided almost 2,000,000 people with free services, with estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million annually;

Pregnancy Resource Centers are not a new idea. According to Brian Clowes, Ph.D., similar ministries were prevalent in the latter half of the 19th Century. Clowes cites an article by Marvin Olasky (“Victorian Secret:  Pro-Life Victories in 19th-Century America.” Policy Review, Spring 1992, pages 30 to 37) and states, “in 1880, there were hundreds of CPCs [crisis pregnancy centers] scattered throughout major American cities, working hand-in-hand with ‘shepherding homes’ for unwed mothers, some with room for more than 1,000 to live at one time.  Some of the largest chains of sheltering homes and CPCs included the Homes of Mercy, the Door of Hope, the Life and Hope Missions, the Rescue Missions, Beulah House, the Jewish Home for Girls, the Home for the Friendless, the Bethany Home, the Association for Befriending Children and Young Girls, the New Shelter for Young Women, the Magdalene Benevolence Society, the House of Mercy, the House of the Good Shepherd, and the Boynton Refuge Home” (Crisis Pregnancy Center Movement, Clowes, hli.org/resources/crisis-pregnancy-center-movement).

The first modern day pregnancy resource center was begun in Hawaii in 1967 by Bob Pearson after that state liberalized its abortion laws. A year later, Birthright opened PRC’s in Canada and in 1971 Alternatives to Abortion (which is now Heartbeat International) was established (Crisis Pregnancy Center Movement, Clowes, hli.org/resources/crisis-pregnancy-center-movement).

 In 1975, Care Net began as the Christian Action Council, founded by Dr. Harold O. J. Brown. Former U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. C. Everett Koop and Christian scholar, Dr. Francis Schaeffer were also involved in Care Net’s beginning. In the early 1980’s, the Christian Action Council’s “mission crystallized into establishing pregnancy centers and equipping them to empower women to make life-affirming decisions in response to an unplanned pregnancy. The organization subsequently adopted the name ‘Care Net’” (care-net.org/history).

Today Care Net is the largest of the PRC affiliates with 1,100 centers across North America. “In 2017 alone, Care Net-affiliated pregnancy centers saved 73,774 unborn lives! During the past ten years, 677,248 unborn children were saved from abortion through the valiant efforts of Care Net affiliated PRCs”.

“Today Care Net is the largest of the PRC affiliates with 1,100 centers across North America.”

Pregnancy Resource Centers provide many services, all of them free and confidential. These services may vary from center to center but generally always include pregnancy tests and pregnancy options counseling. The two centers that I worked for also provided limited obstetrical ultrasounds for women 7 to 13 weeks into their pregnancies. These gave very specific information to our clients, confirming that they had a viable pregnancy, measuring the baby’s heart rate and determining the age of the baby. By nine weeks in utero, even though the baby is tiny, it clearly is seen as a baby and not just a “clump of cells” as abortion providers and pro-choice supporters sometimes describe. Often when a client views her baby in this way, she determines right then that she will carry to term.

The intent in reaching out to women in crisis is to meet them where they are at with no judgement—to listen to their stories, their feelings and their thoughts. Many times, the fathers of the babies come with their partners. It is important to let the couples know that the PRC is there to help long term no matter what the client decides. Many PRCs offer parenting education to both parents as well as relationship counseling. Often material items including maternity clothing and baby needs are readily available for clients.

“The intent in reaching out to women in crisis is to meet them where they are at with no judgement—to listen to their stories, their feelings and their thoughts.”

Other programs often found at PRCs are “After Abortion Care” support groups/Bible studies and school and church presentations that encourage young people to be sexually abstinent until marriage. Generally, all the programs in a PRC are implemented by trained volunteers. Churches, businesses and individuals provide the financial support to keep a PRC going. Budgets and staff sizes vary with the size of a center—from a small-town center to multiple urban centers under one administration. Whatever the size and wherever the location—there is always a need for financial and prayer support and volunteers in many capacities.

“there is always a need for financial and prayer support and volunteers in many capacities.”

Without a doubt, directing a pregnancy center has been the most rewarding employment I ever experienced. One reason was the times when a client chose to keep her baby after planning to abort. Another was the appreciation shown by the clients for our services and still another, seeing the difference those services made in their lives. Countless times I heard “I love coming here,” or “I don’t know what I would have done without PRCP.” I saw women complete their education while parenting; women leave unhealthy relationships for the sake of keeping their babies; couples work hard to build their relationships in order to be good parents; and best of all, were the clients who trusted Christ as Lord and Savior because they heard the Gospel at the pregnancy center.

Hopefully you have been encouraged to support pregnancy center ministry in some way. At the end of this blog is a list of PRC’s and their websites so you might be able to find one near you. If you don’t see one near you on this list and would like to list it, please email me at perezmom.7@gmail.com and I will add it to the list.

 

Pregnancy Resource Center of the Poconos
East Stroudsburg, PA
 
Sumter Pregnancy Center
Sumter, SC
www.sumterpregnancycenter.com
 
CareNet of The Treasure Coast
Port St. Lucie, FL
 
Boro Pregnancy Counseling Center
Queens, NY
 
Women's Care Center
York, PA

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