Despite the Elections, Pregnancy Centers are Still Saving Babies From Abortion

Today we are honored to feature the following guest post by Karen Czarnecki, executive director of Charlotte Lozier Institute. (For SBA’s take on the midterm elections, please read our president’s memo.)

There can be no doubt that last week’s election results created new threats to the right to life of innocent unborn children.

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Pro-abortion politicians won control of both houses of Congress. Voters in Nevada and Virginia enshrined a “right” to abortion in their state constitutions; and voters in Missouri failed to approve a ballot measure that would have prohibited most abortions in that state.

But despite these victories by the forces of darkness, there is one light of hope that keeps burning brighter in this country: pregnancy centers.

These are institutions across the nation that help pregnant women preserve the lives of their innocent unborn children.

This week we celebrate Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week, founded by Heartbeat International, to honor those working to aid and protect expectant mothers and their babies.

A peer-reviewed study authored by associate scholars with the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) discovered 60% of women who had abortions would have preferred to give birth if they had received either more emotional support or had more financial security.

Pregnancy centers provide this support. By doing so, they are saving lives.

Glenda, who lives in Arizona, knew she was carrying a baby before she visited a pregnancy center near where she lived. Her inspirational story was featured in CLI’s latest pregnancy center report. “I was in a hard situation,” she said. “I went to a clinic that I had been to before and I knew that I could trust them. I went in for the pregnancy test, but I already knew the test would be positive. I was offered an ultrasound right away. When I saw her, I fell in love so fast. I also heard her heartbeat!”

“The clinic has helped me in many ways,” Glenda said, “but the important service that I received was the ultrasound where I saw my baby for the first time.”

She will be forever grateful.

“I am not alone,” said Glenda. “I have grown stronger in faith and have support. Thank you to all who keep the pro-life message alive and offer health care to women who are faced with difficult circumstances.”

That is what Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week is about: thanking those who work with pregnancy centers not just to keep the pro-life message alive, but to keep unborn babies alive.

The same report in which Glenda told her wonderful story also revealed that there were 2,775 pregnancy centers operating in the United States in 2024 and that these centers provided clients like Glenda $452 million in goods and services. In addition to free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, these also included, for example, free diapers, baby clothing, car seats, strollers, and cribs.

Despite the inspirational, life-saving work these centers do, there are still some forces in this country that bitterly oppose them.

In 2023, then-New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin served a subpoena on First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which operates pregnancy centers in New Jersey. As summarized by the U.S. Supreme Court, this subpoena demanded this pregnancy center hand over “documents reflecting the names, phone numbers, addresses and places of employment of all individuals who had made donations to First Choice by any means other than through one specific webpage.”

First Choice argued that this subpoena “chilled both its association with donors and its speech.” In April, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that First Choice had standing to sue the New Jersey attorney general over this subpoena.

In its petition to the Supreme Court, First Choice cited data on the violence that has been directed at pregnancy centers since the court overturned Roe v. Wade. “Since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” said their petition, “pro-life pregnancy centers have faced nearly 100 criminal acts—including arson, graffiti, assault, and threats of assassination and violence.”

In contrast to this horrible violence, the vast majority of Americans support pregnancy centers. A Marist poll conducted this year asked American adults: “Do you strongly support, support, oppose, or strongly oppose pregnancy resource centers which are places that do not perform abortions but instead offer support to people during their pregnancy and after the baby is born?” Eighty-four percent of respondents said they strongly support or support these centers. This included 80% of respondents who described themselves as “pro-choice.”

The Americans who work at pregnancy centers are heroes. They deserve our support and appreciation. Despite the violence that at times has been directed at them, they continue to be dedicated to protecting the lives of the most vulnerable and innocent.