NEW ORLEANS—There's a brand-new place in New Orleans for assisting women in choosing life over abortion—the Woman's New Life Center on Napolean Avenue. It is distinct among crisis pregnancy centers because it is staffed by professionals and offers ultrasounds to pregnant women.

“As I began to work in pro-life [work] I found that women interested in abortion who see their unborn child on the ultrasound screen will choose not to abort over 90% of the time,” said Susan Mire, founder and executive director of Woman's New Life Center. “I also found that it is important to counsel women against having an abortion; but women have more needs than this. I wanted to create a place for women to support them in their needs as they make the choice for life.”

Although raised Catholic, difficult family experiences combined with personal choices led Mire away from the Faith to the point of developing a hostile attitude toward the Catholic faith, especially toward its stance on sexuality and birth control. During a life-changing experience while on a religious pilgrimage in 1987, Mire recognized the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist for the first time. She also developed a deep relationship with Mary. “It was like a quiet bolt of lightning,” she said. “You could say my life started at 22.”

Mire realized she had to let go of an immoral and even abusive relationship and began to reconsider her thoughts and beliefs about the Church's position on sexuality and birth control.

“Sex creates bonds that if created outside of marriage need to be broken. Men and women need to be able to let go and heal from these,” Mire said. “Society takes this too lightly. In our work at the Center, we counsel women that the chaste life is a boundary. This is living in obedience to God but it is also there for our own protection.”

Mire began to experience inner healing from her hurts, especially those from relationships with men. “I began reading spiritual and medical literature on birth control. I wanted to know why the Church said it was wrong. I began to realize that fertility is part of being a whole person. I began to wonder what it really was to be a ‘liberated woman,’” she said. “Women were taking birth control to enable these relationships with men who were not committed to them and just wanted sex. Is that liberated? Then I read the testimony of a post-abortive woman. After this, I got involved with Access Pregnancy Center, a branch of Catholic Charities, which offers pregnancy testing and counseling to pregnant women. Eventually I became director and continued reading and learning more and more about the pro-life movement.”

Mire earned a master's degree in marriage and family counseling and mental health while she continued her involvement in pro-life work. Her passion for helping women and their unborn babies eventually led her to visualize a place where women could receive professional services before, during and after their pregnancies. She wanted it to have a solid pro-life, pro-Catholic policy.

A Holy Call

One day a call came from priest friend, Monsignor Bobby Guste. He said, “Susan, there's a building across the street from an abortion clinic on sale in New Orleans. What are you going to do about it?” Mire and her pro-life cohort got on the move. In 1999, Mire formed a board called the Woman's New Life Center for professionals interested in volunteering their services for pro-life. Josephite Father Joseph Doyle, president of the board and president of St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, helped to fund raise. They went to business people, the archdiocese and social services to begin building key relationships. Things “just happened,” Mire said.

Mire related one story in particular: “I was visiting a friend and began telling her about our plans. I met her sister, a college student at the time, who gave me the card of a local Catholic businessman involved in health care. I called and we hit it off. He supplied us with medical equipment, ultrasound and funding.”

Although they did not end up with the building Monsignor Guste called about, they finally found and renovated a building on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans across the street from Memorial Hospital. They were provided with many of the professional services they needed to get the place up and running, such as architecture for the renovation, legal services, accounting and a Web site, all donated by volunteers. As Mire put it, “The Lord opened the floodgates.” The Center had its grand opening in September 2001.

“I was in awe at God's hand when everything finally came together,” said Jeanette Rollins, a volunteer at the Center. Rollins became somewhat of a sounding board for Mire as she discussed her vision of the Center years ago over many cups of coffee. They had met at Access Pregnancy Center.

Woman's New Life Center provides two full-time staff: Mire as executive director and Sharon Normand, a professional counselor. Part-time staff includes one nurse, Trudy Lefort, R.N.; a medical doctor, Dr. Larry Colcolough, M.D.; and an ultrasound technician, Donna Bodin. They provide pregnancy testing, ultrasound, professional counseling, referrals to social services and material needs as they are donated such as baby beds and clothing. Although the Center opened in September, it is currently serving three post-abortive women and four open cases for crisis pregnancy. Of course there is plenty of phone counseling.

“Susan and Sharon are giving excellent volunteer training. They are providing people with the philosophical and theological training behind what the Center is all about,” Rollins said. “These volunteers are what I call ‘well-prepared weigh stations’ then ready to turn over the clients to professionals.”

Mire especially has a heart for the poor. She recognizes abortion as a social justice problem. As she put it, “Society views the poor and their unplanned pregnancies as, ‘We don't need anymore of that,’” she said. “Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics always open up in poor neighborhoods. This is how they exploit the poor. They are targets. Some of these people (the poor) may continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. This is a social problem and society pressures them to have abortions. This is a problem but God created these people.” Mire realizes the importance in caring for and educating people.

“What's unique about the Center is that it fosters abstinence before marriage and Natural Family Planning in marriage when there is a serious reason to avoid a pregnancy,” said Monsignor Guste. “There are physicians who say they are pro-life but still prescribe contraceptives such as the pill, etc. Woman's New Life Center does not hesitate to let people know that all of the chemical contraceptives have an abortive potential.”

One recent success story is about a girl who called looking for the drug RU-486, an abortifacient. When she came in to talk about it, she began telling Mire that although she thought she wanted an abortion, she really felt more pressure from others to have one. She related how she was forced to have her first one at the age of 16. She recalled that the nurse during the procedure continuously pushed her face away from the ultrasound screen (some abortionists use these to guide the removal of the baby during the procedure). During the course of the conversation with Mire the girl realized she really wanted to keep the child. She is currently undergoing ongoing counseling and a pregnancy care plan.

All of the services offered at the Center are free. The Center hopes to offer other services in the future such as housing for those who need it during pregnancy and classes by volunteer professionals on the topics of child-rearing and fertility awareness.

In addition to her work at Woman's New Life Center, Mire is also head of the local Project Rachel, a national organization that works with post-abortive women. She also does therapy at Lighthouse Counseling.

Lisa Lottinger writes from Luling, Louisiana.