Pro-Life Pro-Women Pro-Child

One of the criticisms Pro-Choice advocates have against the Pro-life movement is that the Pro-Lifer’s only concern is getting that baby to a live birth, then leaving the mother to fend for herself with a baby she was not prepared to raise.Critics with these concerns have not visited First Choice for Women. If they were to walk through the doors, they would find more than a crisis pregnancy center. Yes, it is a place for women to come and take a free pregnancy test. It is also a place to call when they are scared and don’t know what to do. When they find out they are pregnant and need to understand their options, it’s a place to come and receive counsel from compassionate people who do not shame or judge - but love, encourage, and pray for her and her unborn baby.If the woman decides to proceed with the pregnancy, the center continues to be there, helping her decide if she will parent the baby or choose the selfless option of releasing that baby to an adoptive family.Then, if she decides to parent, First Choice is there to help provide needed supplies, from cribs to clothes and diapers. The staff and volunteers at the center continue to hold her hand as she navigates the waters of motherhood – matching her with a mentor mom and offering parent education classes and small groups so that she never feels alone.In fact, even if she has had an abortion, the doors remain open to her. First Choice is a place for healing and forgiveness, offering Bible study groups to walk post-abortive women down the path to heal those wounds.However, First Choice takes one step before that, by going into middle and high schools throughout Delaware County to present the Creating Positive Relationships program and informing teens about the option of abstinence; the only absolute way to prevent unwanted pregnancies from throwing girls and their families into crisis in the first place.If we can prevent an unwanted pregnancy from happening to begin with, we have been successful, but as we tell them in class, we believe in second chances. When they show up at the center, we tell them why - we serve a God of second chances, and third and fourth…Once a young woman walks through our doors she never has to be alone again. Our hope is that she will meet the Savior, One who will never leave her or forsake her. But until that time, and as long as she allows us, First Choice will walk with her down that difficult road from crisis and confusion to hope.