A new home for Real Options in Manchester

The organization that has evolved into Real Options has served people in New Hampshire’s largest city for many years. Real Options recently welcomed visitors to an Open House at its new West Side location. Windy, the Center Manager, showed me around the new place and filled me in on what’s happening there. I’m grateful for her cheerful hospitality.

Like its partner organization, Real Options in Nashua, the center offers services that go beyond crisis pregnancy support. I met Rachel, a nurse manager, whose work includes ultrasound scans for pregnant women; a physician serves as overall Medical Director. Windy told me about the center’s parenting classes and peer support for women and for men. (In recent years, every pregnancy care center I’ve visited has seen a big increase in requests for services for dads.) She showed me the Baby Boutique, full of baby clothes, furniture, baby supplies, and even some maternity clothing for clients. I saw the counseling rooms where a client advocate can meet with a client in privacy and safety.

From Facebook.com: photos from the Real Options Manchester Open House.

I asked Windy what kinds of donations would be particularly helpful. She quickly expressed gratitude for everything people have provided, but then let me know that a few things stand out. Diapers, training pants, and wipes, of course – “especially wipes,” given the center’s current supply. Also, gift cards to Target or Walmart can be used by the center to purchase car seats; used seats can’t be accepted as donations due to ever-evolving safety regulations on such items.

I had a chance to speak with executive director Lindsay Hyvonen, a dynamic ambassador for Real Options. One of the first things she said to me: “This is about empowering women.” Clients get the information they need to exercise authentic choice, without judgment or coercion. Real Options is a Christian-based organization, but its services are not limited to people who share that faith. It is an agency that provides alternatives to abortion without providing abortion, and it will not benefit financially from any woman’s decision about her pregnancy.

Lindsay is enthusiastic about the new space. With two entrances, clients can have a peaceful waiting area while donations and deliveries come in through another door. Clients have secure spaces to meet with advocates; the medical area is private; the staff has a meeting room; the boutique is spacious. Lindsay hopes to turn yet another room into a place of prayer and refreshment for volunteers and visitors, while preserving privacy for clients. She and Windy both mentioned parking to me when I asked how the new office’s advantages compared to the old site off Elm Street. Free parking is a welcome bonus for clients and visitors alike.

The photos in this post are taken from the Facebook post of The Friends of Life NH, supporters of Real Options. Head to thefriendsoflife.org for more information. To contact the Real Options office in Manchester, call (603) 623-1122.

(Also see this blog’s page Pregnancy Resources in New Hampshire for contact information for other pregnancy care centers.)

In Which the Ventriloquists Feel Some Pushback

Update to a December post: In “Ventriloquists at Work”, I described cases in Connecticut and California in which government agencies are trying to tell pro-life pregnancy care centers what kind of signage they must post. The U.S. Supreme Court will take a look at the California case later this year.

Just yesterday, January 5, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to uphold a similar law targeting a pro-life clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s good news for all of us First Amendment fans.

From a press release from the Becket Fund, whose attorneys are representing the clinic in Baltimore:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A non-profit pregnancy center that helps low-income women in Baltimore prevailed over a discriminatory city ordinance today. In Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, Inc. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit protected the Center from being forced to violate its conscience by referring for abortions or posting government messages about abortion on its walls.

…In 2009, the City of Baltimore targeted the Center, which operates out of Catholic Church-owned property, demanding they display a sign stating that they “do not provide or make referrals for abortion or birth control services,” even though they already inform women in welcome papers and a lobby sign about the caring services they do provide for free and also that they do not offer abortions. Yet the City of Baltimore did not require abortion clinics to display the services they do not offer, such as adoption or prenatal care. The Fourth Circuit’s decision today criticized Baltimore for adopting “retributive speech restrictions” on pro-life speakers, calling the restrictions a “grave violation” of “our nation’s dearest principles.”

 Read the full statement from the Becket Fund. 

Note the date of the city ordinance: eight years ago. Eight years of litigation would force most nonprofit pregnancy care centers out of business. Maybe that’s one of the factors motivating ordinance supporters. Thumbs up to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and other public-interest law firms who take on such cases.

Ventriloquists at Work: Hartford Goes After Pro-life Pregnancy Help Center

This is a ventriloquist’s dummy. You can make it say anything you want.

“Charlie McCarthy.” Wikimedia Commons photo  

This is a pregnancy help center. The Hartford, Connecticut City Council is trying to treat it like a dummy.

St. Gerard’s Center for Life/Hartford Women’s Center, Hartford, Connecticut. (Facebook photo)

A newly-passed Hartford ordinance would require the Hartford Women’s Center, operated by St. Gerard’s Center for Life, to post certain language to address the fears of abortion advocates who think deception is at the core of what the HWC does.

The Hartford Councilors are not the only ventriloquist wannabes out there, just the latest.

A California law seeks to force pro-life pregnancy help centers to promote state-funded abortions via signage inside the centers. That one’s been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra.

The Hartford ordinance passed 7-2 on December 11, a few weeks after a packed-house public hearing. The seven city councilors who voted “yes” had an eye on California case, though. Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut notes,

…in a last-minute change, the Hartford City Council altered the ordinance so that it goes into effect next July, instead of the original language which had it going into effect 30 days from its passage.

Why next July? Because the Supreme Court’s term – presumably including a decision on the California law – wraps up at the end of June.

Read the Family Institute of Connecticut’s statement on the recent Hartford City Council vote. 

40 Days for Life Spring 2017 Comes to an End

The Equality Center is dark and unoccupied in the late evening, with only a few signs standing sentinel outside: Civility, Compassion, Love. Stop Sidewalk Bullying. Legal Abortion IS Pro-life.  There’s no competition for parking spaces. Traffic is minimal – a startling thing, for someone who knows the city only from the hours when the legislature is in session a few blocks up the road.

In that tranquil midnight setting, with no fanfare and no confrontation, the city’s Spring 2017 40 Days for Life campaign drew to a close.

Students, Knights of Columbus, an Anglican priest, and a few of us with no particular affiliation were among the people joining campaign leader Beth Gaby for an hour of quiet prayer for everyone who goes in and out of the abortion facility, whether clients, workers, or contractors.

Beth brought 40DFL back to a city that had gone without a campaign for awhile. She had some challenges. One local Equality Center abortion supporter took to Facebook regarding 40DFL: “Victory is….intimidating clinic protestors [sic] to the point they get in their car and leave.”

Beth must have known from the vigil schedule which 40DFL participants were the targets of the angry woman. Beth’s response was to join those participants during their next scheduled hour.  One of those participants later brought two more people with her to pray. The moral support was contagious.

Greenland

A few hours before the Concord vigil, the Greenland, New Hampshire 40DFL team gathered for a closing rally, followed by prayer in front of the Lovering Center. The 40DFL volunteers took advantage of a splendid 70-degree spring day. Campaign leader Jackie McCoy sent an email afterward to supporters, including those who had been unable to attend.

“Thank you to all of you who have prayed, fasted and witnessed to life, from your homes and on the sidewalk. I got to speak with some of you at today’s closing rally, and I am always so impressed, and blessed by your steadfast support of 40 Days for Life, and the compassion you have for the unborn, their mothers, and also for those who oppose you.”

Jackie mentioned encouraging things from the campaign, including friendliness from a Center worker and increased news coverage in local media.

I’ve been a guest speaker at Greenland 40DFL in the past, and I am always touched by the warmth of the local team. Every rally wraps up with a “tailgate party” of sorts, with coffee and snacks, followed by a delivery of treats to the New Generation home across the street.

Until Next Time

The next 40 Days for Life campaign will begin September 27. There’s plenty of time to discern whether it’s your turn to step up to lead a campaign in Manchester, Concord, or Greenland.

In the meantime,  Cathy from the Pray for Life Center in Manchester invites pro-life witnesses to prayer vigils outside Planned Parenthood’s Manchester office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is not a 40 Days for Life campaign, but rather a year-round effort. See the Pray for Life Center’s Facebook page for more information.

See also this list of agencies providing direct, no-cost services to pregnant and parenting women in need of resources. Your support and your presence keep them going.

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Envisioning mobile ultrasound: “Stork Bus” visits Manchester

The Pennacook Pregnancy Center in Manchester recently hosted a representative from Save the Storks, who brought along a “Stork Bus” to demonstrate the organization’s mobile ultrasound units. Save the Storks has facilitated the purchase of 22 mobile units by pregnancy centers around the country and expects have another 18 in action soon.

Representatives of Manchester-area human services agencies were among the visitors who came for a look at the bus, which is a 24-foot vehicle designed as a mobile pregnancy center. “It’s not a converted RV,” said Michael, the Save the Storks representative. “Everything is for the comfort of the mother.”

Michael of Save the Storks explains the bus’s features to visitors.

A pregnancy center operating a Stork Bus can park it near an abortion facility, providing a highly visible opportunity for women to obtain no-cost sonograms. Staffing – one counselor and one sonographer – is the responsibility of the local pregnancy center.

No Stork Bus purchase is in the offing for the Pennacook Pregnancy Center, but the Save the Storks visit gave people a chance to see what a mobile unit might look like.

The interior of the bus on display was remarkable: an ultrasound unit with a large display screen for the sonogram, exam table, private bathroom, private counseling area, audiovisual equipment, even a small refrigerator. The exterior was “wrapped” with a Save the Storks promotional message; each center operating a bus chooses its own exterior design.

The investment for a Stork Bus is substantial. Michael of Save the Storks told me that his group can help local pregnancy care centers find grants, but it’s clear that a center wanting a bus would have to do a lot of fundraising on its own. It’s possible for several agencies to cooperate in the purchase and operation of a bus.

“Four out of five women receiving ultrasounds in these buses choose life for their babies. It used to be three out of five,” said Michael. “Prayer is what we need the most. God does the rest.”

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Learn more about Save the Storks.

Learn more about Pennacook Pregnancy Center.