Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 02, 2023


Ep 764 ｜ What Really Happens at Pregnancy Centers？ ｜ Guest： Leanne Jamieson


Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 3 minutes

Words per minute

166.32648

Word count

10,539

Sentence count

592

Harmful content

Misogyny

43

sentences flagged

Hate speech

19

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, we talk to Leanne Jamison, the Executive Director of Prestonwood Pregnancy Center in a blue city, in a red state. Leanne talks about her journey from being pro-life in word to pro-love in action.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Pro-lifers are just pro-birth. Pro-lifers don't do enough for women. They only care about keeping 1.00
00:00:08.720 the unborn child alive and that's it. They lack understanding. They lack empathy. They lack
00:00:14.960 love. These are the accusations that pro-lifers get, but most people who launch these accusations
00:00:22.360 have never been to their local pregnancy center. Today, we are talking to a director of a pregnancy
00:00:29.340 center in a blue city, in a red state who is going to tell us what exactly they do. She is going to
00:00:37.180 give us the testimonies of women who have been helped by the women and the volunteers at their
00:00:44.900 center. If you can make it through this episode without crying tears of joy and gratitude and
00:00:53.800 praise to God for what he is doing through these Prestonwood Pregnancy Centers, well, then you are
00:00:58.940 a stronger person than I am. You are going to be so encouraged, so edified, and so educated
00:01:04.940 by the conversation with our guest today. So Leanne Jamieson from Prestonwood Pregnancy Center
00:01:12.520 will be joining us in just one second. This episode, as always, is brought to you by our
00:01:18.140 friends at Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com. Use promo code Allie at checkout. That's goodranchers.com,
00:01:23.940 code Allie. Leanne, thanks so much for joining us. I am so grateful to be here today, Allie. Yes. For
00:01:39.880 those who don't know, can you just tell us who you are and what you do? Sure. My name is Leanne
00:01:44.280 Jamieson, and I am the executive director at the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center. Yes. And tell us a
00:01:51.440 little bit about how you got that very, very busy job. Yeah. Well, you know, I've been working in
00:01:58.680 ministry for a long time, a couple decades, and was on staff at a church that had started a pregnancy
00:02:06.720 center, Prestonwood. And so when they had a need, they asked me to step into the role. To be honest,
00:02:15.100 I had never, I hadn't even ever served at a pregnancy center. I, you know, like a lot of,
00:02:22.520 a lot of believers, I was pro-life and believed in the sanctity of life, but didn't really understand
00:02:29.320 what a pregnancy center did. And so initially had stepped into the role interim, thinking that it
00:02:36.680 might not personally be a fit in that. I loved being in the church ministry world and ministering to
00:02:43.080 women through the, through, uh, women's ministry in a church, but my goodness fell in love. Incredible
00:02:50.900 what I get to do every day. And how long ago was that? That was eight years ago. Eight years ago,
00:02:57.860 we started at Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, and you said that you had always been pro-life. Tell us a
00:03:03.140 little bit about your journey. I mean, obviously they saw at Prestonwood that, okay, Leanne would be a
00:03:08.760 good person for this. And so they must've known obviously about your values and what you cared
00:03:14.580 about, but tell me just kind of your testimony leading up to that. Yeah. I think like a lot of
00:03:20.340 believers, I was pro-life in word. And I mean, I'm, it was a heart, it was a heart hold for me. I
00:03:28.700 believed in the sanctity of life. I had had women, young women in my ministry that walked through
00:03:35.540 unplanned pregnancies with, without a question, believing that that child, regardless of how it
00:03:42.340 was conceived was a gift from the Lord that had a, a plan and a purpose. Um, but you know,
00:03:49.960 when I went to the Pregnancy Center, I was, I really had to confront, why do I believe in the sanctity
00:03:57.680 of life? What does that look like? In what ways does the church need to operate? How do we stand the
00:04:04.040 gap for that young couple that finds themselves in that unplanned pregnancy? And so I really, I often
00:04:10.360 will say I went from being pro-life in word to pro-love in action. You know, those, those beliefs,
00:04:17.040 I had a vehicle now in which to operate or work them out, uh, through the Pregnancy Center.
00:04:23.680 So tell me what surprised you the most, just seeing it day in and day out, women come in who were in 0.63
00:04:31.200 crisis or just in unplanned pregnancies. Uh, what did you, what did you learn?
00:04:37.280 You know, I think looking back, it's still, uh, one of the greatest motivations too, for what we do
00:04:44.520 is that, you know, I think we have a society that tells people that to react to their situation. Um,
00:04:54.720 sometimes that's a positive thing, right? You find yourself in a situation that you need to move
00:05:00.460 quickly out of because that is what's best. Uh, but, but in my experience, reacting is not the
00:05:07.900 best or healthiest way to make a decision. And that is, and instead it's responding and responding,
00:05:13.360 just the idea of response requires an element of time. So we have done a very effective job. And I
00:05:20.900 think it's one, the abortion industry has played off of, of telling people like, look at, you're in an
00:05:27.200 uncomfortable, difficult situation. Don't linger there. We've got an option for you that can quickly
00:05:34.420 take care of that uncomfortable situation that you find yourself in. I, I think what surprised me is
00:05:44.100 how many of, um, those that find themselves in that situation have, it has, they don't slow down to
00:05:51.920 think, okay, let's look at my situation. Let's think about the pros and the cons to each of my
00:05:57.720 options. Let's navigate this. And, and, and instead of reacting, instead of responding, they're reacting.
00:06:05.620 And so I think what surprised me is just the place that we have in helping navigate a decision
00:06:12.560 making process with a young person to be able to slow down and look at those options with truth
00:06:20.280 wrapped in love and grace and how needed it is. I think about, you know, when I was having my first
00:06:28.780 baby and I was told, Oh yeah, let's just do a C-section. I could get into that whole story. It was
00:06:34.060 really not necessary, but I think that, you know, a lot of times we have white coat syndrome where
00:06:40.020 someone who is in charge tells you, well, this is how we're going to react or respond to your
00:06:44.420 situation and makes you feel maybe even without saying the words, like you don't have any time or you
00:06:50.380 don't have any other option to try to learn about the choices here or learn about what's going on. This
00:06:57.440 is just what we suggest. And because that person is in authority, you take their suggestion as this is
00:07:02.260 what you have to do. So I imagine it's really difficult, um, in those situations, especially when
00:07:07.820 you've got a 17 year old girl, she is stressed out and someone tells you, come on, of course, this is
00:07:14.220 what you need to do. Of course, you have to finish high school and go to college. Of course, it's going
00:07:18.760 to be easier. If you get an abortion, you kind of, you know, get a little starry eyed at this person
00:07:23.660 in authority telling you, this is what you have to do to be smart and to be responsible. So I'm sure that's
00:07:30.240 one of the reasons why a lot of young girls say, okay, whatever you say, Planned Parenthood. 1.00
00:07:34.480 Absolutely. I mean, I think we, we find that we have young people that come into our center.
00:07:41.200 And when we ask them questions, they have like, you know, because I think there's a lot of just,
00:07:47.640 uh, misunderstanding of how pregnancy centers work. Uh, I think there's a lot of belief that
00:07:53.860 we're out there arm twisting and manipulating and lying. And I'm sure we'll get into that. But,
00:07:59.060 uh, you know, I think when we sit with that young person and we say to her, these are your options.
00:08:06.140 These are, these are, these are the choices that you can make. And here's, you know, let's talk
00:08:12.920 through that, asking them some good questions. It's so interesting how often they haven't even
00:08:18.960 really thought about it. The only space that they've gotten to is I have a positive pregnancy test
00:08:26.900 and I don't want my life to change or I can't do this because I don't have the finances or I'm a
00:08:37.000 student or, and they fill in the blank, the reasons that we hear. And when you say, let's,
00:08:43.500 let's talk about that assumption. Sometimes assumptions are true. Sometimes assumptions
00:08:49.820 are not true. So the best way is for let's, let's talk about what you're being told. You know,
00:08:55.720 I think we have, we do teach our young ones from the time they're little, I would take my little
00:09:01.180 ones to the doctor. They're going to give you a needle. It's going to hurt, but it's okay. It's
00:09:05.740 for what's best. You trust this person because they have a white coat. We should trust our medical
00:09:10.100 professionals. But I think that you still have to, um, discern and gather information and think
00:09:18.380 about your situation and be able to, uh, make a healthy decision for you and your unborn child.
00:09:25.720 Yeah. We certainly should be able to trust our medical professionals. I think a lot of people
00:09:31.080 have been kind of questioning that authority for the past couple of years with a lot of things that
00:09:36.580 have gone on, including the big push for abortion among our medical professionals and the experts
00:09:43.880 saying that this really is healthcare from the president of the United States saying this is
00:09:49.060 healthcare. It's a woman's right. Um, before we get into any of that, I do want to hear what is the
00:09:54.580 process from the moment that a young woman calls you. Maybe she doesn't really know if she's pregnant. 0.97
00:10:00.480 She wants to get it confirmed or something like that to her coming in and her leaving for the first 0.69
00:10:06.560 time. Tell me what that process looks like and what the pregnancy center is doing for her. 1.00
00:10:13.500 Yeah. So from the, you know, often she'll find us online or through a word of mouth referral. So,
00:10:20.480 uh, 40, 45% of our clients come because someone else has come to us and told them that we are safe and
00:10:27.640 and caring place for them to show up to, or they found us through just that internet search where we,
00:10:34.200 a lot of us go now for our first source of information. She'll call or chat or text. Uh,
00:10:41.920 she is going to talk to, um, a very compassionate woman on the phone. Who's going to figure out and
00:10:50.380 ask good questions about her situation. Uh, she is going to learn on that initial phone call that
00:10:56.780 we need, we don't perform nor do we refer for abortions, but we're going to tell her all the
00:11:02.320 things we can do for her and why it is still a good idea for her to come to us. She's going to come
00:11:09.420 in. She's going to have that pregnancy test. She's going to, uh, see it with someone who's going to 1.00
00:11:16.460 provide guidance. Should she be going through a, um, specific difficult situation, a trauma,
00:11:24.820 we have licensed professional counselors on staff that we will pull into her visit. She's going to
00:11:32.000 meet with a nurse sonographer for that sonogram. Uh, you know, the, uh, people that are employed at the
00:11:39.380 pregnancy center are professionals that know some of the best, I think in pregnancy centers around
00:11:45.940 this nation, you have some of the best medical professionals, doctors providing oversight.
00:11:51.260 She's going to get a continuum of care. I don't think that she gets anywhere else. So when we talk
00:11:57.620 about woman's healthcare, when we talk about reproductive healthcare, I think we have to look at a woman as a 0.99
00:12:06.020 holistic being. And in our, in our mind, at our clinic, she has physical, emotional, and spiritual
00:12:12.520 needs. And we're going to address those. She's going to find out the physical, is she pregnant? 0.89
00:12:19.100 How far along is she? Uh, is it an interuterine pregnancy? That's important to know as well.
00:12:25.520 She's going to get good counsel. She's going to get good counsel on her situation. She's going to,
00:12:32.100 uh, be, that's going to be guided and, you know, help her come to the decision that she needs to 0.91
00:12:40.460 make around that pregnancy. And we do that, you know, it's interesting. Um, on a side note that
00:12:48.500 women coming to a center like ours at our center, who can come to us thinking initially that they, 0.95
00:12:54.500 the only option for them is an abortion. 86% of the time they'll choose life when they just take
00:13:01.760 a breath. It's nothing that we're doing other than just saying, okay, we're here. Let's navigate
00:13:08.180 this with, with you. And she take, makes the option or she chooses the option of life for her child.
00:13:15.700 But through that, if she has, if she has material needs and physical needs, we have a resource center,
00:13:21.800 food, diet, all you name it. Holistically, we're going to care for her.
00:13:26.640 Mm-hmm. And parenting classes as well. I mean, yes, this is stuff that extends beyond even the,
00:13:32.980 even the first year of life in many cases. I mean, is, you know, it's interesting because that's,
00:13:37.480 that's a question we get is how long will you walk with her? And I will often say, honestly,
00:13:43.920 there's not a policy of like, okay, two years, you're out of here. Uh, we are pro-life and we're
00:13:51.260 pro-her life. And so that means that should something come up in the, you know, future,
00:13:58.480 we want to help support and, and enable and equip and empower her to, uh, be the mother and the woman
00:14:07.180 that God has designed for her to be. So that means that should she need our help longer than two years,
00:14:13.520 or there's no deadline. And, and often, uh, she has other children. So, you know, we're going to
00:14:22.040 look at her situation, her needs and come up with, if she's parenting herself, we're going to come up
00:14:28.480 with a parenting plan and look at not just how can we provide, but how can we equip and empower her
00:14:35.700 to be able to long-term provide and have this incredible, abundant and filled life that we
00:14:43.580 know that Jesus wants for her. You and I have talked about some stories, um, of women who have
00:14:51.000 come through your center, who have had especially dire needs. Like you've told me about women who
00:14:57.000 have needed help with immigration, who have needed help with healthcare enrollment, needed help with
00:15:02.460 refuge from different kinds of, you know, abuse, maybe domestic abuse. Can you tell us just a
00:15:07.600 couple of those stories that have, have struck you and stayed with you over the past couple of years
00:15:13.940 where you really saw kind of redemption and transformation for that woman because of God,
00:15:19.360 because of how God used the center and the people there. You know, some of the criticism out there
00:15:24.900 about pregnancy centers, it's, uh, interesting. And, and like I said, I'm sure we'll get into it,
00:15:30.900 but we had a client and she came to us and she was abortion determined. And through her meeting with
00:15:40.180 a nurse, it became evident that she was in an abusive relationship. That was one of the reasons 1.00
00:15:44.560 that she was abortion determined. And the nurse stopped and immediately looked at her and said,
00:15:50.040 I need to know if you're safe. And they had a long conversation and she felt like she was still
00:15:55.640 safe. And that nurse said to her, I want you to know that we are here for you, that we love you.
00:16:04.100 And we are concerned about your wellbeing. And should you need us, we are a mere phone call away.
00:16:10.200 Well, she left that day and she was still uncertain about whether or not she was going to parent. And,
00:16:15.460 uh, you know, we knew that we were going to continue to reach out to her and have her come
00:16:19.860 back as should she need us. And the very next day, um, during the night they got, she and her
00:16:25.420 significant other got into a really large argument and she ran, left the house the next morning with,
00:16:33.680 um, nothing, but the, like she had shoes on and nothing, not her purse, nothing. And she came to us
00:16:41.280 the next day. So think about this, your abortion. So obviously didn't feel judged.
00:16:45.800 Yeah. I obviously felt loved and cared for because she showed up that very next day she was beaten 1.00
00:16:52.580 and, uh, we were pretty sure she had, um, broken bones in her face. And so we took, I put her in my
00:17:02.360 car and we took her to the emergency room. We spent the day with her trying to get her and paid for her
00:17:08.840 to get out of town, to go back home, uh, where she could be safe. Um, I will say that she
00:17:15.540 chose life as a, as a positive and, you know, she'll come back in and she'll ask to come and,
00:17:22.680 you know, what I love is that she'll come in and she asks for me and I get to go and I get to love
00:17:28.460 on her and hug her. And, um, and you know, it's, it's not that her life isn't still got some messiness
00:17:35.560 to it. Uh, but I always tell the staff, messiness is just an opportunity for ministry. And I love her
00:17:42.380 just the way that she is because she is a child of God and she has had difficult life circumstances.
00:17:50.560 Um, you know, we had a, an, another client, a refugee client and came to us. Uh, she was sitting in a 1.00
00:18:00.440 Planned Parenthood and this was, uh, before Roe was overturned and she, uh, had just, she was
00:18:08.300 tragically pregnant. That's how I'll put it. Tragically pregnant, uh, from just a difficult
00:18:14.560 search circumstance. And she was seeking an abortion. And so she had found out sitting in
00:18:21.380 this Planned Parenthood, what the abortion was going to cost. And she didn't have that. So she put
00:18:27.760 in, where can I get free help? And we popped up at the top of that search. So she showed up that day,
00:18:33.980 uh, cause she called and said, can I come, is it really free? And can I come now? And we said,
00:18:39.280 absolutely. We're free. This is what we can do for you. This is what we don't do, but this is what we
00:18:44.900 do and you can come. And so she showed up that day and she would tell you that she met love for the very
00:18:50.700 first time through one of our client advocates. And so she ended up choosing life. We can't stay in touch
00:18:56.740 with her. I always, I'm always terribly honest. I'll tell you what we do well and I'll tell you
00:19:01.060 what we didn't do well. And, and we did follow up, but we missed a very important question during our
00:19:07.720 follow-up over the next few months with her. And that was, tell me about your support system.
00:19:12.940 So it gets to near the end of her pregnancy. And one of my staff walks in and says, Hey, Leanne,
00:19:20.040 this client is on the phone and she's in labor. And she's wondering if one of us can go be with her
00:19:26.240 in labor. And I'm like, I have, I mean, I've been in labor. I have never been there to cheer.
00:19:32.960 And I mean, this is a dream. So I'm like, I am your woman. And I get in my car and I'm heading down
00:19:40.440 to one of the hospitals here in the city. And all of a sudden, you know, it dawns on me. I don't know
00:19:47.080 where I'm to be going because I'm from Canada. I've never given birth in the West. I don't know.
00:19:53.460 Do you go to the emergency room? Do you go to labor? I don't know. So I call and they tell me
00:19:58.340 that, um, actually it was good thing. I called because she was being sent home because she was
00:20:03.280 in false labor. Um, so I head back to the, to the, uh, center. And as I'm heading back, I'm thinking,
00:20:11.540 hold on here, Lord, like you're in labor. And you know, not that we don't have a relationship with
00:20:17.980 our clients. We do in some close relationships, but we, you know, you're in labor and we're the
00:20:24.500 people that when you are thinking about who you need there, that you reach out to, like,
00:20:29.760 that's just a bit of a red flag for me. So by the time I get back to the center, I said to one of the
00:20:34.080 staff, I want to go, let's go see her at her home. Like I grabbed another staff member, but I don't want 0.86
00:20:39.380 to go empty handed because that might seem a little strange that I just show up at her doors. I'm like,
00:20:44.400 we need to take her something. Do we have a car seat? And so we happen to have a car seat. And
00:20:50.500 so we grabbed that car seat and off we go and we show up her at her door and I knock on the door
00:20:56.620 and she opens the door and she sees me with this car seat and she just starts to sob. She falls to her 0.68
00:21:02.140 knees, put the car seat down and I pick her up and I kind of cup her face and I'm like, sweet one,
00:21:08.180 what is going on? And she said, I, you know, I was sent home from at the hospital and I'm not in
00:21:15.520 real labor yet. And she's just sobbing. And she said, but the nurse said, as she was sending her
00:21:21.360 off, listen, when you come back and you're in real labor, like you need to have a car seat with you
00:21:28.020 or you can't take your baby home. Was she all the way home? She had been crying. Like, I don't have,
00:21:33.480 like, she couldn't even afford a car seat. And here we show up with this car seat. And I took a
00:21:39.460 look around her apartment that day and it was obvious that she didn't have anything. And I said,
00:21:46.140 tell me, like, what have you been eating? And she started to cry again. And she'd been living off a
00:21:51.040 loaf of bread and a dozen eggs for like the last week. She was not, again, a refugee, didn't know
00:21:56.440 about food banks, was just in a really tough situation. So I said to her, look, I'm going to
00:22:03.380 leave now. But, um, you know, remember I told you I was a woman's ministry director. I have a lot of
00:22:09.220 women in my phone. I'm like, I'm going to make some phone calls and some of my friends are going 1.00
00:22:13.280 to show up and they're going to bring you some things that you need and just let them in. If
00:22:18.400 they say they're a friend of mine, just let them in. And so I made phone calls and women started to 1.00
00:22:23.740 show up. They brought, I said, she needs food. She didn't know just everything. She needed everything. 0.83
00:22:28.660 So that was a Thursday that Saturday. I got up, woke up my husband up and I said, Hey babe,
00:22:33.840 we need to go to Costco. I need to go buy. I do this to people. I'm sorry.
00:22:38.760 If you're not, if you're watching or if you're listening, you can't see that I have tears streaming
00:22:43.180 down my face. I can't help it. I can't help it. Your heart, Allie Beth, you're the real deal.
00:22:48.240 So anyway, so I could wake my husband up. I'm like, we gotta go to Costco. We need to buy,
00:22:52.700 but rice, we need, and I'm gonna go on a shopping list. So off we go. And I'm like, you know,
00:22:58.080 we head off to her place after going to Costco and, and we show up at night, knock on the door
00:23:05.780 and she opens the door and she's crying again. And I'm like, what on earth? You know, like what's
00:23:11.540 going on? And I can hear voices in her bedroom and some of the women and their spouses I had sent
00:23:18.940 were in her bedroom setting up a crib because she didn't even have a crib. And she is just at this
00:23:25.360 time, the tears are of just being overwhelmed. And she said to me, and I'll never forget these
00:23:31.120 words. She said, Leanne, I thought God had forsaken, forgotten me. And I, I thought he had
00:23:39.700 turned his back on me. And I said, sweet one, God has heard your cry and he has sent the president
00:23:44.900 with pregnancy center. And, you know, just, uh, I could go on. I could tell you about her baptism
00:23:50.940 and just her part of being a part of my, did she have a religious background at all? Did she know
00:23:56.380 about Christianity having been a refugee? She, um, had some understanding. We took her to church.
00:24:02.560 My husband that day, uh, said to her, it was a Saturday, you know, how about we come pick you up
00:24:07.960 and we take you to church the next day. And that she had said, I, I had given up all hope was what
00:24:13.980 she kept saying. And, um, so, oh, now you're getting me a little bit. This still gets me God
00:24:19.280 and how he works. But so we had picked her up the next day and taken her to church with us. And we
00:24:25.240 show up and she's like, already, she's like nine months pregnant, cute bow in her hair. She's like 1.00
00:24:31.600 ready for us to take her to church. And the sermon that Sunday was a pastor named Jared Stevens. And he
00:24:39.380 was preaching that Sunday morning and the sermon he was preaching on was how you never give up hope
00:24:45.820 that God hears our cry. And that she walked forward that day at church. And, um, you know, I tell people
00:24:53.060 all the time that we were going to do a shower for her. We decided we were going to put out the call,
00:24:58.780 uh, to, to the church and say, Hey, we have this young woman. She needs everything. Um, she has chosen
00:25:07.160 life and we need to stand in the gap for her. I would have thought that would have been the thing 0.91
00:25:12.160 she was most excited about, but she was most excited about being baptized that next weekend,
00:25:18.640 nine months pregnant. She was baptized. So she still hadn't had, she still hadn't had the baby
00:25:23.300 yet. Wow. The following Thursday I was at with her in the hospital when she gave birth,
00:25:29.060 she had to have an emergency C-section and, uh, she labored for about 24 hours. She was a toll 0.98
00:25:35.040 champ. And when they came out, it was about one o'clock in the morning and they came out with her
00:25:39.740 baby and they were pushing her little one out of, um, in the bassinet. And I was waiting and they're
00:25:47.100 like, Leanne Jamieson, Leanne Jamieson. And I'm like, Oh, that's me. And they're like, here's your
00:25:51.960 baby. Meaning like, and I'm like, Oh, that's not my baby, but thank you. I got pictures. I got to hold
00:25:59.580 her. And God knew God knew when he put her into false labor, obviously strong enough for her to 0.99
00:26:06.280 feel like she had to go to the hospital that she was going to call you. And that is, she was going
00:26:11.540 to go home and that you are going to show up with the car seat and that you were going to see her
00:26:16.660 apartment and that she needed things and that people were going to show up at her apartment.
00:26:21.360 And that was also going to be the opportunity for her to go to church and get baptized all before she
00:26:27.760 had the baby. That's incredible. Pro love in action. And can I just say, when I say to you,
00:26:33.760 I was pro life and word and now pro love in action. It is a gift of the Lord that I have been able to
00:26:41.880 walk this out and to get to witness him move in a mighty way in our clients' lives, but it is holistic
00:26:49.820 care. And so I get a little defensive in a holy way. I think when people criticize pregnancy centers,
00:26:59.740 because we're the ones who are willing to call the warriors of God's people and say,
00:27:10.200 this is the need. Yeah. Like, here's where we need to go. And holistically and completely with
00:27:17.900 Christ's love surrounding that woman and helping her through sometimes what's the darkest days of her
00:27:25.040 life. And I probably goes without saying, I mean, for us, maybe not for everyone listening or watching
00:27:41.620 that Planned Parenthood doesn't give that kind of care. I mean, I know we can't say necessarily for
00:27:48.320 sure, but I do wonder if that abuse victim had walked into Planned Parenthood and said, here's what
00:27:54.940 I need. Obviously she would have been told, well, you should get an abortion. That's going to be the 1.00
00:27:59.360 easiest thing. But I do wonder, would there have been any follow-up at all? That refugee woman, if she 1.00
00:28:04.880 had been able to scrap together some money to get an abortion, would she have gotten any help with any 1.00
00:28:10.280 physical, certainly not spiritual needs? I mean, people like Elizabeth Warren, she talks about
00:28:17.460 Planned Parenthood or, you know, name any Democrat politician. It really is kind of that black and 0.97
00:28:24.300 white. I mean, they talk about Planned Parenthood as if it's this hub for women's safety and healthcare
00:28:29.700 and betterment and empowerment. And then like Elizabeth Warren talks about places like Prestonwood
00:28:35.960 Pregnancy Center as centers for manipulation. Ayanna Pressley, she is another politician that we 1.00
00:28:43.960 talked about recently that she just went on a rant and some committee hearing talking about how
00:28:49.260 basically pregnancy centers coerce women into having their babies. They don't actually provide
00:28:56.380 anything. You guys, Prestonwood Pregnancy Center had a whole hit piece written about you. Yes, we did.
00:29:01.840 And Time Magazine basically saying that, that you are lying to these women, you're manipulating these 0.54
00:29:07.180 women. And what we hear all the time, pro-lifers, is that we're just pro-birth. We don't care about 0.93
00:29:13.140 what happens to them after. But really, like the opposite is true. Planned Parenthood can't even
00:29:18.860 muster being pro-birth. They're actually just pro-abortion and they don't care what happens to those 0.90
00:29:23.740 women after they get their checks. So, I mean, talk about that a little bit. Just, I'm sure it's so 0.99
00:29:29.240 frustrating for you to hear that propaganda. Well, it makes me mad, actually. First off, when we,
00:29:37.260 it's, in a lot of ways, it's doublespeak in that we talk about, or they talk about,
00:29:44.080 these poor women that are being manipulated and being lied to and being coerced. And yet, 1.00
00:29:52.540 then they use the word empowerment for women in the same, same sort of breath. And it frustrates me
00:30:00.880 because I truly do believe in the empowerment of women. I truly believe that women are intelligent
00:30:09.440 and capable that they are able to make good decisions. We don't need to manipulate her.
00:30:20.460 We don't need to lie to her. We, you know, often what we are, we're just a guide. We're a navigator
00:30:29.260 standing beside her saying, okay, I know this is traumatic. I know this is difficult.
00:30:36.900 I know you don't want your life to change, but your life changed the moment you had a positive
00:30:42.820 pregnancy test. Now let's navigate what way does it change? And we ask questions. And you know what,
00:30:51.440 we counsel the best through listening. And it's fascinating how often the clients that come to us
00:30:59.560 feel like they've never truly been seen, or they've never truly been heard. And we're just there.
00:31:06.140 We, the idea that, so it, to step back, to say that a woman is easily manipulated and therefore needs to 1.00
00:31:17.800 be protected from a pregnancy resource center who might just be laying out her options in front of 1.00
00:31:24.180 her. It doesn't ring true with this whole idea that we're for, that they're for women's empowerment.
00:31:30.220 Either women need to be protected and aren't capable of making good, healthy decisions on their own 1.00
00:31:35.860 or discerning, or being able to come into a center like ours and know, okay, these are good people
00:31:42.420 that really just want what's best for us. And also quite honestly, okay, you're getting me riled up.
00:31:48.480 I'm not saying anything. You're just thinking, you're just thinking through it and it's getting
00:31:53.620 you riled up. This is my moment, Ellie. I understand though. I understand feeling riled up about it.
00:31:59.240 But yeah, so, uh, you know, um, just this idea that, uh, we would need to lie or that we don't,
00:32:08.720 we just care about the unborn child is also very offensive to me because, uh, you know, if you are
00:32:17.600 a believer and if you understand the gospel, then you know that that woman has as much value as her
00:32:25.840 unborn child. The moment that she walks through our door, I have as much concern and care for her
00:32:33.120 as I do that child that has yet to be able to take its first breath outside the womb.
00:32:39.440 And so, you know, we, we do, um, we aren't just pro birth.
00:32:44.760 Mm-hmm. Um, Elizabeth Warren, she, her comments were what inspired my
00:32:50.180 satirical video that I, that I did. People can go watch it if they want to, but I mean,
00:32:56.060 she called these places dangerous. She said they're actually dangerous. People have compared
00:33:00.860 them to terrorism, which is laughable, but also, I mean, serious is places of death.
00:33:07.360 Yeah. I mean, come on. And obviously we saw the backlash after the jobs decision was released
00:33:11.820 against pregnancy centers. One of them was that propaganda in time magazine about Prestonwood
00:33:16.040 pregnancy center lying about you, but we saw physical backlash. We saw the vandalisms, the,
00:33:21.080 the pipe bombs and things like that. And so tell me just what it is like being in the face of that
00:33:27.960 kind of national disdain too. I mean, there are many powers that be that are against you,
00:33:34.420 maybe not against you personally, but certainly the idea of you corporations, obviously the federal
00:33:40.100 government, we've seen the DOJ kind of in a very partial way, handle the attacks against pregnancy
00:33:47.300 centers versus pro-life activists, um, and how they have been advocating for life outside of,
00:33:54.600 uh, you know, Planned Parenthoods and abortion centers. And so, I mean, there's a lot stacked
00:34:00.800 against pregnancy centers. And so tell me just what's the, what is that like? And what has it
00:34:05.360 been like over the past few months since Roe was overturned? I mean, I'm not going to lie. There
00:34:10.500 have been, it's been hard at times, you know, I'm leading, uh, a staff and volunteers and concerned
00:34:19.820 about the safety and the wellbeing of those that come to us, whether through that side of staff
00:34:26.680 and volunteer or client. Uh, yeah, it's, it's been an education in the fact that you can have a mic or
00:34:36.660 a camera or a blog, or, uh, even access to being a journalist, being a journalist and having the right
00:34:45.420 to be able to pin an article, uh, and not truly tell the truth. That's been fascinating.
00:34:55.920 You know, it's easily could be a distraction at this point to what we're called to do or what
00:35:01.620 the care that we're supposed to give. Um, you know, I've had to very clearly be able to
00:35:07.780 compartmentalize. Okay. I've got to deal with the media and this, this accusation out there. Um,
00:35:19.020 you know, I, I think it's been interesting that in a lot of ways, pregnancy centers have become the
00:35:25.820 target of this post Roe existence that this, our nation is now in as if, uh, we are, have
00:35:37.740 not that we're new to the scene or that we're operating in a way that, um, gives them fuel to
00:35:47.880 this idea that abortion, it should be a right to, for every woman in our nation. And it, you know,
00:35:57.140 it's, I, I guess I would say pregnancy centers, um, although there's a political discussion that
00:36:06.660 needs to take place on abortion and is taking place, uh, you know, we are, we don't, we exist
00:36:14.920 sort of separate from that. Either way. You know, like I, I, I was never, I wasn't called to be a
00:36:23.360 politician. I, I believe there are people out there that are called to fight the political battle
00:36:29.180 of abortion. And that's not us. We're purely here to, to deal with the emotional, the physical,
00:36:37.720 the spiritual consequences of a woman finding herself in an unplanned pregnancy. You know,
00:36:43.520 go, the politicians need to handle the politics and the lawyers need to handle the laws. And just 0.99
00:36:49.360 let those of us that feel called to be boots on the ground, deal with the women. We were there before 1.00
00:36:55.360 we're there after we're not going anywhere. Um, the lies and the rhetoric using pregnancy centers 0.99
00:37:02.920 as being the, the, the potential, you know, scapegoat for this, uh, this anger that they have over the
00:37:13.480 road decision. It doesn't make sense to me. And it's, you know, she wants to, it's so fascinating
00:37:21.160 that the accusations against pregnancy centers, they don't hold true. Those same accusations
00:37:29.000 for Planned Parenthood would totally hold true. Yeah. And yet they're being directed at us. Isn't
00:37:34.900 that fascinating? As a believer, I believe if we're doing something right, there's always going to be
00:37:39.180 attack. Yeah. And you know, I go back to Nehemiah building the wall and there was criticism and
00:37:46.300 there was attack and he, you know, he, he, he had a sword in one hand and a trial in the other. And so
00:37:53.780 the sword for me is the word of God and the trial is, you know, the mission and the ministry of the
00:38:00.340 center. And so we are going to continue to do what we're doing. And, you know, I jokingly said to my
00:38:06.180 husband at one point when that news was going on about the DOJ and some of the, uh, direction they were
00:38:12.260 going to take with pregnancy centers, I'm like, I, I could end up in jail one day for doing what is 0.98
00:38:18.220 right. And that is okay. Yeah. You count the cost, count the cost. You know, there's a lot of people
00:38:25.660 who will say, even people who profess to be Christians, that they're not pro abortion, but
00:38:30.300 they are pro choice. It's important for women to have the choice. And yet they won't support their 1.00
00:38:35.000 local pregnancy center. They will maybe support their local Planned Parenthood, but not their local
00:38:40.480 pregnancy center because they believe that Planned Parenthood is a center for choice. And really,
00:38:46.540 as you said, the opposite is true. You walk into a Planned Parenthood, they are not evenly telling
00:38:50.540 you about all of your options. Very often there's a lot of manipulation, sometimes coercion, but
00:38:56.500 certainly a lot of deceit and coverup about the development of the child. They won't allow you to
00:39:02.100 see your sonogram. They don't want you to see the sonogram. They certainly won't suggest it.
00:39:05.860 They won't tell you evenly about the option of keeping your child, raising that child yourself.
00:39:11.580 They won't allow you to see the full adoption options. They won't necessarily, they don't want
00:39:16.920 to refer them to centers like you. So there's actually a lot of, a lot of darkness, a lot of
00:39:23.000 manipulation, a lot of lying that goes on in Planned Parenthood to get someone to simply abort
00:39:31.860 their child. If you are truly pro-choice, why would you be against showing a sonogram or her
00:39:37.560 listening to the heartbeat? Why would you be against her knowing all of her options? So have you ever had
00:39:44.120 someone who calls themselves pro-choice volunteer at one of your centers?
00:39:49.860 No, only because we go through a, um, a really good vetting interview educational process. So I would
00:40:02.600 say it's, you know, I've, I've dealt with this quite a bit because I moved from a role where I, you know,
00:40:11.220 was involved in a large ministry of women and then moved into this role of running the pregnancy centers. 0.96
00:40:18.700 And I think because of the relationship I had with so many of these women, they felt safe to come to
00:40:23.180 me. So I did have some of those conversations, the conversations that say, I would never have an
00:40:30.280 abortion, but I don't know if I should be telling another woman what she should do and her, you know,
00:40:38.100 or what about rape or what about incest and all of the, you know, we, the things that, uh, we should be
00:40:48.580 talking about because I think it will help solidify why we believe in the sanctity of all life. But we've
00:40:56.920 had those conversations and I, I will, I will first on one challenge if you, whether it regardless of
00:41:05.160 whether or not you would have an abortion or not, if you believe in the, someone else having the option
00:41:12.880 to have an abortion that makes you pro-choice flat out, that is the definition of choice.
00:41:18.920 So these are women who would sometimes be calling themselves pro-life saying that they would be okay 0.88
00:41:25.380 with the option for someone else, but not for themselves.
00:41:27.580 Right. That they themselves are, are pro-life, but they're kind of reiterating a pro-choice position.
00:41:34.480 That is pro-choice. Um, you know, we are told in the Proverbs that we have to be a voice for the voiceless.
00:41:41.660 So we need to be a voice for those being led to slaughter. And therefore as believers, you know,
00:41:49.140 we do, we do need to stand firmly on the sanctity of all life. So, you know, we, we, we navigate that
00:41:58.120 through those discussions, obviously through the interview process. Sometimes it's just an educational
00:42:05.380 deal where it's like, this is our stance. This is why we believe what we believe.
00:42:10.880 And they actually get to see it through a loving viewpoint that they then will be like,
00:42:16.460 yeah, you know, I think you're right. I think I am pro-life, um, across the board.
00:42:22.540 Yeah. And there, you know, we've probably gone through every debate point, every discussion point,
00:42:29.900 every disagreement point when it comes to pro-choice versus pro-life, or some people like
00:42:34.660 to say pro-abortion versus anti-abortion. So people can go back and listen to those episodes.
00:42:40.880 But to just kind of summarize, I think what is really the pro-life position is that
00:42:45.640 the worthiness of someone's life, the value of someone's life, someone's right to life is not
00:42:50.740 negated or diminished at all by the circumstances surrounding their conceptions or the potential of
00:42:55.000 hardship after their birth. That's basically the pro-life position. And that's part of it. 0.56
00:43:00.520 And another part is that we believe that the woman is also, the mother is also made in the image
00:43:04.960 of God and that she needs to be cared for as well. And obviously there's a lot of ethical
00:43:10.480 questions or people have ethical questions and debates about, you know, at which point is the
00:43:16.800 mother's life. So at risk where abortion and those are, you know, can be hard conversations,
00:43:21.340 but at the end of the day, we believe that both of those lives are equal in worth and in value.
00:43:27.300 And there are difficult decisions. Sometimes the doctors have to make before the baby is viable
00:43:33.080 and things like that. And pro-lifers don't deny that, as you said, like those are discussions that
00:43:37.620 we want to have because our interest is to do whatever we can to preserve the lives and to help
00:43:43.200 the lives of both the child and mother. But we want to preserve the lives of both the child and mother.
00:43:49.720 And going back to something that you said at the beginning, we don't believe that a child should
00:43:53.880 be discarded for the sake of inconvenience or even tribulation or anything like that. We just
00:43:58.620 believe that people are worth more than that. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I, I think that the whole
00:44:04.360 conversation around issues of rape and incest, you know, I know in our center and we saw around 24,000
00:44:16.040 client visits last year. So you can imagine that we see. And was that an increase? Cause you live in a
00:44:20.960 red state, kind of a blue area in a red state. Like, was that an increase from before the overturning
00:44:27.160 of Roe v. Wade? Yeah, we definitely saw an increase. August was our largest month after that we had ever
00:44:34.060 had. That was immediately after the decision. Uh, January hit this year has been a yet even another
00:44:41.160 record setting month. These are records. I wish we didn't need to, or weren't setting obviously. Uh,
00:44:48.420 but grateful that the, these women are coming to our center because we feel like we're the safe
00:44:54.820 place for them to come. Uh, yeah. So 24,000, you can imagine that we see lots of, uh, difficult,
00:45:03.260 uh, situations from ectopic pregnancies to, uh, you know, my, my nurses would tell you they have saved
00:45:12.340 lives through seeing and, uh, being able to tell there's an ectopic pregnancy and sent that woman
00:45:19.640 immediately to the emergency room under consult with one of our medical doctors. We have a whole
00:45:25.880 team of them. Uh, but this, uh, issue of rape and incest, first off, it's a very small percentage
00:45:33.860 of the clients that we see. Uh, and often it, a woman, when she finds herself at our center and she
00:45:42.420 has, as an example, been raped, the discussion at that immediate point, isn't about, uh, abortion.
00:45:52.240 It's about her trauma. And, you know, I'm so grateful that we have professionals on staff,
00:45:59.440 professional counselors that we can bring in to help her navigate that trauma. Immediately making 0.99
00:46:05.180 a decision for abortion is just layering trauma upon trauma. It's not a healthy, it's not healthy.
00:46:13.160 No one should be counseling a woman in the weeks after. I mean, we're not seeing a woman immediately 0.99
00:46:19.680 after rape. We're seeing her often, you know, four, six weeks after. Right. Right.
00:46:24.600 So often in our experience, she has not gotten any help. You know, she, um, often, you know,
00:46:32.700 the majority of rape is through someone that a woman has a relationship or knows, not necessarily, 0.96
00:46:39.680 uh, romantic relationship, but, you know, has had an acquaintance or so the reporting even is,
00:46:48.660 it's not well reported. And so, you know, to be able to have trauma or, uh, licensed counselors
00:46:55.540 that are trained in trauma and be able to navigate that with her and get her the care that she needs.
00:47:01.100 I just honestly believe we're unique in that we're able to do that for her.
00:47:18.660 You know, there's a lot of women. I, I, I've heard this a lot, especially after the 1.00
00:47:22.940 overturning of Roe v. Wade. And I'm actually talking about Christians with a lot of influence
00:47:26.380 saying that, well, there to be pro-life, basically you have to be pro-choice until, um, we start to
00:47:35.420 do more work to, you know, meet the, meet the needs of women after they give birth. And until then,
00:47:42.180 we have to keep the option of abortion on the table. And I'm not asking you to enter into a
00:47:46.100 political discussion. There is a political discussion obviously to be had there, but
00:47:51.020 I wonder how many of those people who say that, well, what about welfare? What about education?
00:47:59.280 What about all those things? I'm fine putting those on the table, by the way. I think we should
00:48:02.800 be debating all those things, discussing all those things. All of us believe that we want
00:48:06.380 more than for them to just give birth. But I just wonder how many of those people saying that
00:48:13.220 have gone to their local pregnancy center because a lot of those people, they are chastising and
00:48:19.920 finger wagging other evangelicals, typically Republican voters for voting for pro-life, but
00:48:26.920 not doing enough. And I just wonder how many times have you gotten off of your couch and put your phone
00:48:35.060 down and gone to your pro-life pregnancy center? Because chances are, and this is not in a spirit of
00:48:41.600 shame, this is just the truth, chances are there's probably a center that has been doing that work
00:48:47.360 that you say needs to be done, maybe two miles from your house for the past 30 plus years. Now, maybe
00:48:53.540 not. Maybe God is calling you to be the person to provide those needs. But in every single state,
00:49:01.140 there are pro-life pregnancy centers that have been doing this tireless work, very often without
00:49:08.060 praise and very often with a lot of pushback for decades since and before the overturn or not the
00:49:14.740 overturning, but Roe v. Wade in the 1970s. And so before I think we chastise other Christians for not
00:49:23.540 doing enough for vulnerable women, why don't you engage in the work that's already been being done 0.93
00:49:29.800 maybe since before you were even born? That's my encouragement is that there's a lot of work
00:49:35.680 already being done that we can get involved in. Yeah. I think if you think about it, if every,
00:49:41.600 if every one of your listeners, if every person sitting in a pew on a Sunday,
00:49:49.920 even like beyond even let's say gave $10 to a local pregnancy center, what a force would the
00:49:58.340 pregnancy centers across this nation could be what we could do. There's not a director that would sit in
00:50:04.920 front of your listeners and say, listen, you don't know like the dreams and the hopes and the ideas
00:50:11.220 that we have to meet these growing needs there. Uh, you know, the, the, the, the potential is just
00:50:19.740 there. If people bought diapers, if people just supported their local centers, we could end abortion 0.93
00:50:28.220 without ever changing a law in this nation in a lot of ways through spiritual revival and the love
00:50:36.280 a woman can find walking through the doors of a pregnancy center. I promise you, I promise you 0.98
00:50:42.660 that most women, uh, that are seeking abortions don't really want to have an abortion. They just don't 0.69
00:50:50.560 know what to do next. And pregnancy centers are the ones who are saying here, let's just, let's just
00:50:58.040 look at the next step and we can help you and we can provide the things that you need until you get
00:51:04.340 your feet under you. And it's not just pregnancy centers. We're great networkers. You know, I think
00:51:09.820 it's shocking. And I had no idea. You asked me earlier, what is some of the things that I was really
00:51:15.560 surprised by. And I think the network of ministries out there that are providing this beautiful
00:51:26.660 tapestry of care for those that find themselves in crisis in this nation, it's, it's actually
00:51:34.720 incredible. And I think pregnancy centers also do a really good job of networking and being able to tag,
00:51:41.820 okay, I've got this, but there are, uh, there are ministries out there providing housing and food
00:51:49.820 assistance and job assistance. And sometimes they all come to places like our family resource center
00:51:55.860 and provide it on our, in our, in our building. And we, you know, I think we're, we've got to get
00:52:02.040 better at that. Uh, you know, I think if we've got to do a better job of coming and forecasting and
00:52:08.600 looking ahead, the other criticism, and you alluded to this of like, you know, what about this? And
00:52:15.320 what about that? You know, we hear that all the time in this movement. Okay. So you're doing, you
00:52:20.840 know, you've convinced her to have this baby, but what about fill in the blank? But we also know that
00:52:28.220 we're in a rapidly changing culture. I mean, you know, up until a few years ago, we weren't thinking
00:52:34.960 about schools being shut down for a pandemic. And what would your average hourly wage couple that
00:52:42.040 have children there now at home, how are they going to cope? And, you know, it's provided that
00:52:47.920 the, uh, culture is constantly changing and providing new what ifs and what abouts. And so I,
00:52:55.740 I think that's a unique position for us is that we do, we do pivot and we do look at those needs and we
00:53:02.660 do try to figure out, okay, this is new, this is upcoming. Uh, you know, as an example, um,
00:53:10.800 offering help provide, uh, applying for pregnancy Medicaid that can happen. We help our clients on
00:53:18.120 site navigate that. That's something new that we've done in the last few years is it became obvious
00:53:24.180 that we had clients that needed some assistance in understanding what are some of the programs out
00:53:29.840 there that can help them. Yeah. And I just want to encourage people because on this show, we have to
00:53:36.420 talk about a lot of bad things that are happening. A lot of frustrating things. We've talked about some
00:53:41.220 of them today, just that the powers that be are so ardently pro-death and pro-abortion. And there's
00:53:48.740 just so much sadness in that. That alone can make me cry when I think about some of the laws that have
00:53:53.260 been passed over the past few years that just completely ignore the dignity of unborn children.
00:53:57.900 And now even some professing Christians are just very deceived when it comes, um, to this subject.
00:54:04.280 But what I like to remind people is that God's work doesn't always make headlines. That story that
00:54:10.260 she told of that refugee who had Christians rush into her home just to make sure that she and her
00:54:15.900 baby were cared for and that she felt love. And then she came to Christ because of that love and
00:54:20.040 was baptized and all of that. That's not going to trend on Twitter. That's not going to be written
00:54:24.720 about by Time Magazine. And so sometimes we can be so flooded with the bad. It's important to talk
00:54:29.840 about that, of course, and to understand how we as Christians can bring clarity to the chaos. So we
00:54:35.140 have to talk about the chaos, but just remember that God's people everywhere, every day, every moment
00:54:43.660 are doing unseen and unsung acts of radical love that are changing people's lives through the power of
00:54:51.760 the Holy Spirit and changing communities for the better. Maybe you'll never hear about it on social
00:54:57.260 media. And I guarantee you'll never hear about it. Even on, you won't hear about all of them on this
00:55:02.920 podcast because I have Leon on today, but she is one of hundreds, if not thousands of directors who are
00:55:11.720 doing the same thing. So the stories that you tell me today, that's not just happening in your area.
00:55:15.500 That's happening in every state, hopefully at least every major city in the United States every
00:55:21.180 day. Overwhelmingly Christian, overwhelmingly pro-life showing up in ways that the world says
00:55:27.540 every day we aren't showing up and isn't happening. And so we get to praise God for that, that no matter
00:55:33.480 what happens in Washington, no matter what happens in our state capitals, all that matters. I say politics
00:55:37.840 matter because policy matters because people matter. So that absolutely matters, but that does not dictate
00:55:43.140 or change what the Christian is called to do on a daily basis. And I think sometimes people are like,
00:55:49.640 am I doing enough? Am I doing enough? Am I like stewarding my resources enough? Am I doing the next
00:55:54.640 big thing? What is God calling me to do? What is this dream that he's calling me to fulfill? Maybe it
00:55:58.380 is some big public thing, but maybe it's just the next right thing. Like maybe it's just donating $10 to
00:56:03.320 your local pregnancy center. Maybe it's just showing up and saying, how can I help? Sorry that I haven't so
00:56:08.040 far. You know, I mean, that's true for all of us. And I'm not just saying people out there,
00:56:12.140 that's true for me. That's true for everyone. And wow, to be a part of the body of Christ in
00:56:17.860 seemingly small ways, I mean, that's bigger than any of us could imagine. That is like more glory
00:56:25.240 and more goodness than any of us could even dream of being a part of without the Holy Spirit.
00:56:31.920 Hmm. It's, um, it is the greatest opportunity I have ever been given to be able to, uh, watch
00:56:45.920 God work. It, you know, pregnancy centers are holy ground and, uh, and it's incredible what happens 1.00
00:56:54.480 there at every day. Uh, you know, I'm pretty sure that most pregnancy centers would welcome 1.00
00:57:02.020 a phone call and a request of, Hey, I just want to come see what you're doing. I just want to come,
00:57:08.700 you know, support you through just a word of encouragement or a prayer. Can you just show
00:57:14.340 me around, uh, you know, demystify your local pregnancy center and become an advocate for what
00:57:20.520 they're doing? Uh, you know, this much, I know crowdsourcing works and that, that your voices
00:57:27.740 matter and that you tell saying to people, you know what, what Elizabeth Warren is saying about
00:57:34.080 pregnancy centers, it's not true. Yeah. And you know, that, that alone, it doesn't matter what
00:57:41.360 time magazine writes or the next news article that's coming out about us, what it says, like,
00:57:48.320 go see us and see the truth. And then, you know, and then tell your neighbors and like, Hey, listen,
00:57:57.240 they're just loving on people. Yeah. There's no agenda other than to just love someone who is
00:58:03.520 finding themselves in that difficult situation. I just want to help. Yeah. Like I'm guilty of wanting
00:58:08.640 to help. Okay. Finally. Um, there was a lot of people who are listening to this, watching this,
00:58:26.620 who they might not have even made the connection, but maybe they bought a onesie or a pack of diapers,
00:58:32.040 or maybe even a crib through the Amazon baby registry that I've posted a couple of times for Prestonwood
00:58:37.400 Pregnancy Center. Can you just tell them what impact their generosity has made on the women who
00:58:43.280 have come through your center? Well, Ali Beth, uh, first off, I want to tell you that when your people
00:58:51.780 moved and they bought truckloads of items for us to give away this sweet Amazon driver, when he,
00:59:04.180 he had this Amazon truck, he'd come with his second load of the day. And he was just baffled. He was
00:59:12.240 like, what is going on? I keep having to drop whole truckloads of items. And we were able to share,
00:59:19.000 do you know that one of our male client advocates shared Jesus with him in the parking lot? And he
00:59:23.700 came to Christ, the Amazon driver, the Amazon, none of you out there that gave to our pregnancy center 0.99
00:59:31.020 thought that the Amazon driver or driver was going to be the first one to come to Christ.
00:59:35.920 When we give a crib, well, it's not the crib. It's not the onesie. It's a tangible love of Jesus that
00:59:44.400 we're handing that, Hey, someone that doesn't even know you cares enough about you that they gave
00:59:51.020 diapers to us or they gave, we, uh, we have a family resource center with a baby boutique now
00:59:58.160 where it is stunningly beautiful. It's so beautiful. I've been, it's beautiful.
01:00:03.080 Yes. And we, our clients get to come shop for free and they'll often walk in just wide eyed.
01:00:10.400 And you know, the whole thing is so beautiful and so dignified. And it really is to say to them,
01:00:16.700 like you matter and we care about you and we want to give you this experience and it causes an
01:00:23.220 anticipation of this child that is about to come into their lives and then they can keep coming back
01:00:29.400 and it's beautiful. And you're, you have provided for that center, uh, thousands and thousands of
01:00:38.680 families over the last year have been touched by your, your listeners generosity. They may think
01:00:45.620 they're just buying a pack of diapers, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus through
01:00:50.520 the sitting, just purely at a computer and swiping by. Yeah. It matters. There's a, there's a lot of
01:00:58.660 that in our current technological landscape. There are a lot of things we can criticize, but man,
01:01:04.140 the amplification that goes from social media and the ease and convenience that comes from things like
01:01:10.140 Amazon makes it really easy to better people's lives. There's a lot of bad, but gosh, God can
01:01:17.100 use seemingly exclusively bad things for good, for the good of other people and for his glory. So
01:01:22.960 we're going to do another link to a baby registry in the description of this episode. So you can click
01:01:29.580 on that again, just a pack of diapers, bibs, whatever it is that you can do. Some people you've got enough
01:01:36.560 to buy a crib or to buy a car seat. You just heard how that can really change someone's life. Um, and
01:01:42.420 so please, if you can donate or you can contribute toward a gift, if you're like, Hey, I can only
01:01:48.160 afford 10 to $20, those cribs or those larger items that are often $300, you can contribute $10
01:01:54.920 towards that. That makes a big difference. Um, so thank you guys. Also y'all are so generous. This
01:01:59.820 audience is so generous. You care so much about, uh, vulnerable moms and vulnerable families. I know
01:02:06.720 that as I was crying, all of you washing your dishes, going on a stroll, driving your car,
01:02:11.300 you're doing, you were doing that through tears too, because you care so much about these vulnerable
01:02:15.460 women. So don't only go to the Amazon registry that we will link, but also go to your local 1.00
01:02:21.100 pregnancy center. If you have it, just see how, how you can help and likely and said, see if you can
01:02:26.080 just pray for them. If that's what you can do right now in the season of life, I promise
01:02:29.860 you, I promise you directors like Leanne, they, they covet your prayers and, uh, they can't
01:02:36.620 take enough of them. So thank you so much Leanne for, for what you do. Is there anything you
01:02:41.560 want to close this on? Just any encouragement for pro-lifers out there?
01:02:45.020 I, I, I honestly, I want to thank you, Ellie Beth, for being a voice and for standing in an
01:02:52.920 area of this ministry, uh, or for the sanctity of life, uh, you know, and just your support of
01:03:00.500 pregnancy centers. You are a blessing and to your listeners, uh, you know, pray, serve, give your
01:03:09.180 local pregnancy center. We can do this. Yes. Yes. Um, all right. Thank you so much for taking the
01:03:15.740 time and thanks for what you do and I'll continue to just support y'all and pray for you. So thanks
01:03:20.520 so much. Thanks Ellie Beth.