Pregnancy help center has saved 30,000 babies - and counting - Featured Today - News

By Matt C. Abbott
Op/Ed
Catholic Online

When I began my activities in the right-to-life ministry in the late 1990s, I did some volunteer work for, and was subsequently employed part-time by, a crisis pregnancy center known as The Women's Center (www.womens-center.org).

Thanks be to God, the center is still going strong.

From a May 2007 fundraising letter, signed by Mary A. Strom, the center's executive director:

'I recently heard it said that the totality of evil in the world can be summarized in a single word: abortion. What should be the safest place in the whole world for a human being is the most dangerous. The murder rate in the United States in 2005 was 5.6 per 100,000 born lives. The murder rate in the womb is 25,000 per 100,000 unborn lives.

'As you know, last September [2006] our 30,000th baby was saved from abortion. It was a great milestone and we are exceedingly grateful for God's outpouring of grace on our work and your generous support and encouragement. But still, too many women are being deceived and too many babies are dying.

'What can be done? In evaluating many ideas and opportunities, we have decided to bring ultrasound services into two of our three locations. If true love rejects abortion, then abortion must be the result of rejecting love. How does one flame the fire of love? To love someone you must get to know them. Mothers have a natural love for their children, but when there is abundant deceit, difficult circumstances and pressures, these can serve as obstacles to that love.

'When it comes to abortion, we believe that women have the right to be given the whole truth. The obstacles which may be blocking their natural love are only temporary and changeable, but abortion is permanent and irreversible. With the advances of modern technology, we believe women have the right to meet their unborn child in a non-threatening, caring and professional environment. This meeting of mother and child through the technology of ultrasound will surely provide the necessary courage and overcome a multitude of obstacles...love conquers all.

'Our ultrasound committee has already secured a volunteer physician medical director, a volunteer radiologist, a volunteer sonographer and several grants and donations. We feel very strongly that this project should not leave us hopelessly in debt. Therefore we are asking you to prayerfully consider a special gift in support of this project. May God bless you for your generosity and continued efforts to protect His precious children.'

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(Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He is the former director of public affairs for the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and the former executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee. He was a contributor to Catholic Online, The Wanderer Catholic newspaper and had numerous letters to the editor published in major newspapers, including the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com)