I was just searching through some of the many abortion headlines and noticed this one from Time:
New Abortion Clinics Are Opening Near Borders and Airports to Stretch Access as Far as It Will Go
After more than five years working together in reproductive health clinics in the Washington, D.C., area, nurse-midwife Morgan Nuzzo and ob-gyn Dr. Diane Horvath realized they could do it better. They started fantasizing about a clinic of their own, where clinicians of different backgrounds would provide compassionate, high-quality care; employees would be fairly compensated and patients met with respect; and abortion would be treated as essential medical care that everyone should be able to access.
Partners in Abortion Care, their all-trimester clinic, is set to open this fall in College Park, Md., a location they hope will be convenient not only for themselves as D.C.-area residents, but also for patients in Maryland and beyond. After the leak of a draft decision suggesting that the Supreme Court could soon overturn Roe v. Wade, which would likely result in the ban or significant restriction of abortion in 26 states, that location became more crucial than ever.
College Park is within 40 miles of three major airports and close to several highways, making it a relatively easy destination for travelers. And if nearby states like West Virginia and Ohio crack down on abortion as expected, Maryland could become a magnet for people who need to travel for care—even more so if neighboring Virginia enacts stricter policies in the future, as some advocates fear will happen. Unlike those states, Maryland is expanding abortion access. It allows abortions up to the point of fetal viability (around 24 weeks of pregnancy) and permits later procedures if the parent’s health is at risk or the fetus is diagnosed with a serious health issue. Plus, starting July 1, nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants—in addition to doctors—can perform abortions there, which will expand the pool of potential providers and may therefore increase the number of patients clinics can serve.
I really can’t imagine fantasizing about making sure there are more abortion clinics. I do, however, fantasize about more places to help mothers be mothers and not have to end the life of the baby already inside her. I fantasize about more maternity homes. Imagine easily accessible places where women could go for post-abortion healing. Imagine everyone knew where to go if you felt adoption was the best option for your child.
Last weekend, the Sisters of Life celebrated their 30th anniversary a year late (Covid-delayed). It was this beautiful gift of loving life and knowing that lives have been saved by women who commit their lives to God and the protection of human life. They live to look at people with the gaze of love that comes from knowing you are a child of God. We need more of their charism in the world. Instead, a man is arrested on his way to assassinate a Supreme Court justice and the justice is met with a protest outside his house, and the president of the United States calls for a post-Roe revolution on a late-night comedy show.
Charlie Camosy today highlights Good Counsel homes in the New York metropolitan area. They are the maternity-home network we have, and they rarely have empty beds. New York is about to become an abortion destination, and we need more maternity homes and transitional housing and sonograms and help for women. If you live in a state that is likely to protect most of the innocent unborn from abortion, would you please consider supporting a pro-life ministry in New York or one of the other states in competition with us for abortion capital?
And if you are pro-life and have financial means, a medical clinic, real estate . . . think big. Think hospitality. We can all do more. And we are being called to dream big. Be inspired, too, by this column by Dr. Grazie Christie:
I read fetal ultrasounds for several centers in South Florida. We date the pregnancies and detect signs of life in the embryos. We show the mother, and often the father, the delightful humanity of the little one on the way, the endearing liveliness of a little son or daughter. We also help them to connect to the reality of the situation — one that is much more significant than the daunting obstacles that surround it. Pregnancy resource centers reject the “pro-choice” movement’s minimizing of the painful consequences of abortion. We know that every abortion produces casualties: the baby, of course, but also the mother who very often would have loved to clasp that child in her arms if circumstances had been different. Volunteers at pregnancy care centers do everything they can to make her dream possible and avert the casualties of abortion.
The good news is that many states have been quietly stepping up funding for these facilities. Their legislatures are responding to the wishes of constituents who want to provide compassionate alternatives for mothers at risk. My fellow Floridians, along with our friends in Texas and Pennsylvania and elsewhere, don’t want women to be driven to abort. We reject the worldview of Planned Parenthood and others who talk about “choice” but have only one option on their menu. Does choice really exist when other alternatives are nonexistent or impossible to achieve?
Ever since the Supreme Court handed down Roe in 1973, abortion advocates have attacked the pro-life community for failing to meet the needs of expectant mothers and their babies. It’s an unfair criticism given the explosion of pregnancy resource centers over the past five decades. But here’s what makes the baseless political charge more maddening: They continue to attack the quiet and beautiful work of pro-life America at the very time it may be more needed if, God willing, the Supreme Court overturns Roe and returns abortion policy to the states.
Be inspired too, by Kathleen Wilson, who founded Mary’s Shelter in Fredericksburg, Va. I talked with her as part of a life-after-Roe virtual event recently. You can watch here:
We can all do more to build a culture of life — to make sure women know the alternatives to abortion. That they know where to go when they want to embrace life or even know how to — and be healed from the culture of death. Let’s give pro-life America a try. We’ve done nearly a half century of the opposite, and it’s led, unsurprisingly, to out-of-control violence.
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