Life Centers Blog

Even four months later, we are still seeing the positive effects of our 2022 Celebration of Life banquet with Tim Tebow. 

A 13 year-old boy, named Josiah, attended the banquet with his mom this past October. Being a huge fan of Tim Tebow, we were able to arrange for Josiah to meet Tim and even get a picture taken with the two-time national champion and Heisman Trophy winner. Josiah knows Tim’s story well of how doctors encouraged his mom, Pamela Tebow, to abort Tim because the pregnancy was threatening her own life. Thankfully, she and Tim both lived to tell the tale. 

So inspired by the night of the banquet, and by Tebow’s powerful speech, Josiah donated his Christmas money to Life Centers. His mom tells us, “He didn’t even hesitate who he wanted to donate his money to!” We received a card with money inside from Josiah. (Pictured right)

We are completely moved by Josiah’s generous heart and encouraged by the actions of this young man.

There is a right to live.

This is monumental. The authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives. Supreme Court Justice Alito said, “Roe was egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided.” The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, and thankfully the 50 years of injustice for the unborn is OVER.

Thank you to our supporters, who have unwaveringly backed Life Centers for the last 40 years. Please continue to pray for the ministry and for our six pregnancy centers. We need your fervent prayers of protection now that this decision has been made official. We have seen several pregnancy resource centers across our nation come under attack. Please pray for the safety of our staff and volunteers. Thank you for standing with us. Pregnancy centers are needed now more than ever.

A center director called our Downtown Center to see if we had any extra toys for a 3-year-old girl. A client had just called to make an appointment and also asked if we had any toys we could give her for her daughter’s birthday. The mother didn’t have much she could give her daughter. Unfortunately, we really didn’t have many, if any, toys at the time, but we offered to provide her with some extra books and a cute stuffed animal. 
 
Not even an hour later, a volunteers’ husband from the Downtown Center calls the center and says he’s outside with something to drop off. We walked outside thinking he’s got a car load of donations, and he hands us one toy. It’s a brand new toy for girls ages 3 and up. That’s all he had. He drove all the way to the center just to give us that toy right before we closed. 
 
We were able to provide our client with a brand new toy that she can give to her daughter for her birthday. God truly provides exactly what we need, at the exact time, and it is remarkable to witness that so clearly in our centers! 

11 weeks pregnant. That’s how far along Alisha* was when she came into our center. She was undecided on what to do with her pregnancy, and considering abortion. 

After it was determined that she was 11 weeks pregnant, her Client Advocate showed her a picture of what an 11 week old baby looks like. Alisha instantly started crying and said, “It has feet and legs- that is a baby! That isn’t just a glob of tissue!” After they talked more, Alisha’s Client Advocate reassured her and said “God will be with you and help you.” 

An ultrasound was scheduled for the following Monday. Alisha asked her Client Advocate to join her during the ultrasound exam. During the ultrasound, Alisha was amazed at how big and active her baby was. Earlier that morning, she received a job offer that would allow her to stay at home. Alisha looked at her advocate with tears in her eyes and said, “You told me that God had my back and He does, and I can do this.”

*client’s name has been changed

Megan* came in for a pregnancy test. At the beginning of her peer-counseling session, she revealed to the center director that she had an abortion just one month ago. We were unable to provide Megan with a pregnancy test because her abortion was too recent. We require 10 weeks to have passed after an abortion or miscarriage to administer a pregnancy test. “I’m not considering abortion again if I’m pregnant,” Megan said.

“I just need to know because I took the abortion pill.” She got the pill from an abortion provider. “They lied to me. They told me it was just going to be like a bad period, but it was the worst experience of my life. It was traumatizing.” Megan went back to the abortion clinic for her follow up appointment and they gave her another pregnancy test to ensure the pill “worked.” The test was inconclusive and they sent her away. They did not refer her to further medical care. That’s when she came to us.

The director referred her to one of our ministry partners, a medical clinic, and urged her to see a doctor right away since her pregnancy test at the abortion clinic was inconclusive.

A week later, the director called Megan to follow up with her. They had a great conversation. Megan went to the doctor and everything was fine. She was not pregnant. “Thank you so much for checking on me. I am so grateful you called.” She explained that no one forced her to make the decision to take the abortion pill, but she wished she hadn’t. “I wish I would’ve trusted God would take care of me. I’m going to spend the rest of my life discouraging anyone from doing what I did.”

Unfortunately, Megan’s story is all too common. There are so many misconceptions and withheld information about the abortion pill when it is sold to women. Megan’s viewpoint on what abortion actually is completely changed after she took that pill. She understands now that it was a loss of human life, and she is dedicated to making sure more women understand what the abortion pill does in hopes that they won’t make the same decision.

*Client’s name has been changed.

Fortunately, there is a resource available to women who take the abortion pill but regret it. We refer our clients to the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline when it is appropriate. Keep this number handy so that you can give hope to a mother, and life to a preborn child.

Abortion Pill Reversal Hotline: (877) 558-0333

Though we recently made the tough decision to temporarily close our centers during this pandemic, we are still working and seeing clients. Women who are just discovering they are pregnant are calling our center directors daily to get direction and are finding hope and compassion on the other end of the phone line. Those who depend on us most can not wait for things to go “back to normal;” they need us now.

In addition to counseling women daily, we are seeing moms every Tuesday at our Downtown Center. We are calling our clients and scheduling times for them to come in to get diapers, wipes, or formula for their babies and children. We will continue to see clients each Tuesday until our centers re-open.

On Tuesday, April 7, we served 15 clients, provided diapers and wipes for 19 children, and formula for 6 babies. 

We are not sitting idly by, waiting for this storm to end. We are still actively supporting women making pregnancy-related decisions and showing them they have a network of support behind them when they choose life for their baby. Thank you for your support and for coming along side us, so that we can continue to come along side women, their children, and their unborn babies.

“Our ministry is not contained in the walls of our Life Centers’ buildings.” This is what Machelle Montgomery, our West Center Director, said this past week. In fact, it seems that our ministry is not even contained within the state of Indiana.

God Ordained
Last week, a young lady called our administration office and requested counseling. Machelle returned the call. It turned out to be another one of the many God ordained moments we are experiencing during this unique crisis while our centers are physically closed. The woman on the other end of the call is not even from Indiana. She lives in Kansas. Three weeks ago she had an abortion. Really struggling with the decision she made to end her baby’s life, she was looking for help anywhere she could find it. Panicked, she started searching the internet and found the post-abortive information on Life Centers’ website. That’s when she called us.

She explained to Machelle that since she is now forced to stay at home, as we all are, she is being confronted with her decision to abort. She explained she knew her decision was wrong. Her isolation has left her with no one to talk to and she was slipping into depression. The woman was so thankful to connect with Machelle, and even allowed Machelle to pray for her during their conversation. Machelle encouraged her to call anytime during this quarantine. She was provided with such hope and a listening ear she can turn to anytime- even if that listening ear is in Indiana.

Machelle leads our post-abortive ministry, SOAR (Spiritually Oriented Abortion Recovery) and the fact that she called back this young woman without knowing the circumstances points towards God’s providence. The two talked for over 30 minutes and Machelle was able to share with her some resources and scheduled follow up counseling conversations.

We Are Still Working
God is still working. We are still working. Even though COVID-19 has our centers closed, our directors are still counseling young women over the phone daily. We are still sharing the gospel, filling women with hope, and giving them compassion. In addition to counseling over the phone, we are scheduling clients for support service visits weekly to provide them with diapers, wipes, and other essentials. We will never stop. Thank you for supporting this ministry. Since God is always working, we are always working.

Due to the CDC’s and State Department of Health’s recommendations concerning COVID-19, we will be closing all seven of our pregnancy resource centers at the end of the day today, Tuesday, March 17th, until at least Wednesday, April 1st, 2020; however, that date is subject to change. While this is unfortunate, our staff members, volunteers, and clients safety and health is top priority. 

We do not make this decision lightly. We want to follow government guidelines, and believe that the best way to show love to our community is to help reduce the spread of this deadly virus by limiting face to face contact. Our staff will be using phones, email, social media and creativity to provide peer counseling and community resources to our clients as we continue to save unborn babies and transform lives.

 If you were planning to attend our Celebration of Life banquet, which we had to postpone until October 9^th, and were going to make a donation that evening, please consider doing so at this time. Our banquet is our largest fundraiser to sustain the ministry through the lean summer months. By donating now, you will help alleviate some of the financial stress we will face in continuing to pay expenses such as rent, medical liability insurance, and utilities for all of our centers, while we continue to help our clients as much as we possibly can. 

Please pray for our clients, as we are often times their only resource. We are working on concrete plans to still be able to accommodate our clients as much as possible. Our mission to save babies from abortion and to transform lives through a relationship with Christ is still a priority. We appreciate your support.

This is a continuation of the series of articles to take a wider view of abortion. The previous articles can be found here. This article will explore the history of abortion in the US through Roe V. Wade. In order to be accurate, in addition to facts, direct quotes are used that are rather disturbing. It is not our intent to offend but rather to be accurate. We hope that these articles help you understand the national history of abortion in a deeper way, and help you become a compassionate ambassador for life in your sphere of influence.

Prior to Roe V. Wade

When the U.S. first became a nation, most states adopted the English common law that restricted abortion after “fetal quickening” (when a baby’s movement can be felt). When Britain passed a law banning all abortions in 1803, many U.S. states began to develop their own legislation regarding abortion. In the mid-1800’s, the newly formed American Medical Association (the AMA) began a campaign to create legislation making abortion illegal in all cases except when a woman’s life was at risk. By 1880, every state in the United States had criminal abortion laws – with exceptions built in to allow the procedure in order to ‘save a woman’s life.’ Like any law, it was broken. In general, prosecution was limited to abortion providers that became public because of accidents that led to the death of the woman during the procedure.

At the time of the landmark case of Roe V. Wade, abortion was still a state’s issue. It varied from state-to-state being basically outlawed in 30 of the states and restricted to varying degrees in the rest. For example in Texas, the state where Roe V. Wade originated from, the law stated that abortion was only legal “to save the life of the mother.” While Georgia’s 1876 law permitted abortion in the case of rape, birth defects, or if the health of the mother was threatened. There were other forces at play in the national abortion scene.

Margaret Sanger

circa 1915: Studio headshot portrait of Margaret Sanger (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Much has been written about Margaret Sanger, and there is not enough space here for a full examination. At the very least, her impact on America’s abortion situation is historical. In the late 1910’s, she began to write about sex, birth control, and eugenics profusely. Through her writings, speeches, and organizations, she eventually inserted herself as the central figure in birth control, “population control”, and founded Planned Parenthood. Her writings were and are still controversial, if not disturbing. Many today still view her the way she portrayed herself, a champion of women’s liberation. The keystone to this “liberation” was the limiting or absence of children.

However, Sanger’s motivations were not purely for “liberation.” She espoused ideas that are considered eugenic, racist, and very radical. In her 1932 speech “My Way to Peace,” Sanger laid out her plan to forcibly sterilize 15-20 million Americans (about 12-15% of the total population) to prevent what deemed to be undesirable pregnancies. In a private letter from 1939 regarding the “Negro Project”, she wrote:

“The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” The bolded portion was cited in the recent public debate in North Carolina.

In studying Margaret Sanger in her own words and actions, it does not take long to find someone with radical ideas of population control measures, directed by a ruling class, that have “solutions” rooted in the killing of millions. Since her death in 1966, many have taken up her causes and Planned Parenthood has grown into the largest abortion provider in the U.S.

Roe V. Wade

Two of those to take Sangers’ “cause” were attorneys Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee. In 1970, the two began looking for a way to challenge the 100+ year old Texas abortion law. When they were connected with Linda McCorvey, they found their test case and successfully got a three-judge panel to declare it as unconstitutional (without stating why). Eventually the case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was argued for over a year.

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down a 7-2 decision in favor of Roe (McCorvey), a new precedent was set, and the U.S. government was prevented from stopping abortion. The key decision was based on the ideas that the “right to privacy” includes a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy and that a fetus is not a person in the same sense intended by the Constitution. Many law scholars have found the decision and reasoning incredible, if not wholly unique.

In the next article, we will look at the effects of this decision in law and practice as well as current abortion trends in the U.S. Needless to say, the impact of legal, extensive abortion on demand and the rise of a lucrative abortion industry have been devastating and heartbreaking.

Further reading:

Compelling Interest: The Real Story behind Roe v. Wade by Roger Resler. EC Publishing Group, 2012.

A Dark Past by Jonah Goldberg. National Review, 2008.  https://www.nationalreview.com/2008/06/dark-past-jonah-goldberg/

Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist. Why are we still celebrating her? by John J. Conley. America: The Jesuit Review, 2017. https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/11/27/margaret-sanger-was-eugenicist-why-are-we-still-celebrating-her

Article 4, Abortion in Indiana

This past fall, we began a series of articles to take a wider view of abortion. We talked about what abortion really is and the ethical implications of it. The first three articles can be found here: https://lifecenters.com/life-centers-blog/. In this article, we want to talk about abortion in Indiana. We hope that these articles help you understand what is happening in a deeper way, and help you become a compassionate ambassador for life in your sphere of influence.

The Laws

 Indiana often gets poor grades by groups that believe abortion restrictions are a violation of rights. Because of this, some people may believe that it is extremely limited by the law. The Indiana law actually allows for abortions anytime during pregnancy at certain medical facilities (ex. Eskenazi Hospital and Methodist Hospital) “based upon the professional, medical judgment of the pregnant woman’s physician.” While the statute does provide a framework that medical professionals must adhere to, the fact is that abortions after the fetal age of viability (defined as 20 weeks up to birth) do happen annually in Indiana at acute care hospitals.

The majority of abortions in Indiana occur not in hospitals, but in clinics. These free  standing clinics have physician staff, but are not acute care hospitals, and are limited to first trimester (13 weeks) abortions. These abortions are legal for any reason as long as the woman is 18 years of age and gives consent, or if under 18 with parental consent.

The Trends and Numbers

The latest official numbers on abortion are from 2018 (they usually are published mid-year). In 2018, there were 8,037 abortions in Indiana, an increase over the previous 3 years. One thing to note is that this number probably does not capture all of the Indiana residents who had abortions. Illinois has some of the most progressive abortion laws and we hear that many women from Indiana seek out later abortions by simply crossing the state line. Of the 8,037 abortions, 98% of them were first trimester abortions in free standing clinics. Of these clinics, the location at 86th and Georgetown in Indianapolis is the most prolific, performing 35% to 50% of the abortions that occur in our state. Roughly half of all the first trimester abortions in Indiana are now via medication induced abortion.

How Life Centers Impacts

There is good news in the midst of all of these sad numbers. Life Centers is making an impact on lives – one, two, and whole families at a time. Last year, we saw 7,579 women and babies and were a part of 1,810 births. Volunteers at Life Centers contributed more than 17,000 hours to be part of many stories of changed lives and new life in our clients. Life Centers has put a renewed focus on developing relationships with our clients through support services (diapers, clothing, toys, wipes, baby furniture, etc.), client classes, abortion recovery, and a lot of other expressions of love and compassion. Because of that, many women are choosing to visit and refer others to us rather than the abortion clinics. This shift in traffic has caused many of these local abortion clinics to close over the last five years. Wouldn’t it be great if all of the abortion clinics in Indiana had to close simply because women chose not to get abortions?

Life Centers is not involved in political movements or the legal process. Our focus is ministry and care for those who are facing pregnancy-related decisions with hope that they choose life. If you want to get involved in helping to show love and compassion that saves lives, visit our volunteer page. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. 

(Photo of Life Centers clients)

References for further reading:

https://www.in.gov/isdh/files/2018%20Indiana%20Terminated%20Pregnancy%20Report.pdf

http://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2019/ic/titles/016/#16-34-2-1