Pregnancy can be a scary and vulnerable time in a woman’s life. Facing an unplanned or untimely pregnancy can be especially hard.
Pregnant women need a reliable source of information before making important decisions. She needs to understand all of her options in order to truly have a choice. Where can she turn in her hour of need?
A pregnancy resource center (PRC) offers pregnancy tests and faith based options counseling – and so much more! Other supportive services might include childbirth education and parenting classes, maternity/baby clothing, diapers, and more.
The last decade has seen many of these established PRCs add limited medical services making them a pregnancy medical clinic, or PMC.
A PMC operates under the supervision of a licensed physician and typically offers lab-quality pregnancy tests and limited ultrasound exams in addition to the traditional PRC services listed above. Other services may be available depending on the location.
Amazing things happen when abortion minded women view images of their preborn children! Ultrasound technology reveals the beauty of unborn babies at every stage of development.
Ultrasound can be a powerful weapon against the lies and deceit continuously churned out by the abortion industry. Among abortion vulnerable women, as many as 8 in 10 women who see their baby by ultrasound will not choose abortion.
As an ultrasound expert and trainer in pregnancy centers nationwide, I’ve seen the transforming power of these images time and time again…
At a Georgia pregnancy center earlier this year, a fragile young black woman, Mary, saw an image of her yet-to-be-born child. When offered, she took photos of her baby and agreed to speak further with a counselor.
Gingerly caressing the images, Mary told Susan, the counselor, about her prior abortion in 2009. Seemingly watching the floor, she offered no eye contact and her voice was filled with anguish. “There are so many things out of whack here. What choice do I have?,” she said, barely audible.
She went on, “The baby’s father is in jail, there is no money, and there is just no way I can have this baby. Abortion seems like my only choice – again.”
Susan patiently and wisely considered her response to this distraught young mother. Susan approached the critical issue of adoption with Mary. She shared her very personal story of adoption of not just one, but two, bi-racial children.
Susan detailed how the birth mother(s) had carefully chosen her and her husband to raise their precious little ones. The mothers had specifically wanted the adoptive family to be musical, to live in Georgia, and to be regular church goers, among other things.
Mary began to “perk” up. The transformation had begun.
Mary’s voice and her demeanor seemed to shift. She appeared hopeful that through adoption, she could give this baby the type of life she wanted for him/her. Mary had caught a vision – a life for her child filled with the laughter of siblings, with music lessons and singing in the local choir.
Rather than death, Mary had caught a vision of LIFE for the child growing within her.
Not all pregnancy center visits will turn out this well, but one cannot deny the invaluable work of the local pregnancy center.
Pregnancy centers exist to offer accurate and timely information on all of her choices. Pregnancy centers offer practical help and hope to women and men in their hour of need.
Lives are touched, lives are changed, and lives are saved – all in a day’s work! There are so manystories to share!
Georgia is fortunate to have 75 or more pregnancy centers, many that provide limited medical services. You can find a list of Georgia’s pregnancy centers here. Outside of Georgia, you can go to Optionline.
You can point people to the pregnancy center in your community. You can help guide a pregnant woman to real resources and information – and help save lives!