Pregnancy centers give exploited women options
I volunteered twice a week at a pro-life pregnancy resource center on Columbus’ South Side for two years.
In a recent guest column for The Dispatch, Madeleine Mcclung accused this center and other organizations, such as Heartbeat International, of racism.
She also claimed they “lie” to women. These baseless – and frankly, unimaginative – accusations warrant a response.
When I began volunteering at the center here in town, our director taught me to be very clear with each client I met about two things: We are not a doctor’s office, but we can help you find a doctor if you need one, and we believe abortion hurts women and babies. That’s because we trust the science.
In 2018, researchers at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom found that women who had undergone an abortion had an 81% increased risk of developing mental health problems.
Unlike Planned Parenthood – which netted $1.6 million in a pandemic year – pregnancy resource centers are not obsessed with abortion. In fact, most clients I was fortunate enough to get to know during my time as a volunteer weren’t facing a crisis pregnancy, but were already parents of young children.
For these women, as well as our pregnant clients, we offered free pregnancy tests, prenatal and parenting classes and referrals to health care and social work professionals in Columbus.
We were trained in trauma-informed care and had teaching modules for women suffering domestic violence and even rape.
The busiest corner of our pregnancy resource center was our “baby boutique,” a room stuffed full of diapers, formula, prenatal vitamins, baby wipes, baby soap, more diapers, clothes, car seats, toys, more diapers, then for good measure, more diapers. Every woman who came through the door got to take something with her.
When pregnant women in Columbus don’t go to a pregnancy resource center, where are they supposed to go for help? There is not a single Planned Parenthood in Columbus that offers prenatal care.
Mcclung also noted that pregnancy resource centers are often found in poor and underserved neighborhoods, but she leveled this as an accusation. Apparently, she’s unaware which clinics were in these neighborhoods first.
In 2012, an organization called Protecting Black Life used U.S. Census data to show that nearly 80% of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics were located within 2 miles of a majority Black or Hispanic neighborhood.
This is unsurprising, given Planned Parenthood was founded with the explicit purpose to stop Black and poor women from procreating. Pregnancy resource centers are showing up in response to this blatant exploitation.
Mcclung also criticized one local center for having photos of “Black bodies” on its website.
This begs an illuminating question: Is this center not supposed to use photos of the people who actually live in their neighborhood and they actually serve? Is Mcclung suggesting they should only have on their website photos of … who, exactly? White people?
The fact is that most of the pregnant women I met at our center weren’t considering abortion because they wanted one.
Almost every woman was being pressured by someone in her life – usually a man – to do it. Too many women, upon seeing those two blue lines appear on one of our free pregnancy tests, said something like, “My (husband, boyfriend, dad, boss) is going to kill me.”
Pregnancy centers are often the only place these women can go to hear these two critical truths: that they have another option and that they are strong enough to take it. It’s Planned Parenthood that tells women – mostly poor women of color – that they’re just not strong enough to care for their babies.
Maria Baer is a freelance reporter who lives in Columbus. She contributes regularly to The Gospel Coalition and other outlets, and co-hosts the Breakpoint podcast with The Colson Center for Christian Worldview.