If necessity is the mother of invention, then pregnancy-resource centers are some of her most outstanding offspring.

From their humble birth as crisis-counseling clinics in the late 1960s, many such centers today are converting to licensed medical facilities in order to offer comprehensive care to women and children.

The model is also helping the centers become financially self-sufficient because they qualify for reimbursements from both Medicaid and private payers. More than a few industry sources believe this development is driving a revival in pro-life medical care, social services and counseling services.

“Pro-life professionals are coming into our centers and are so excited to be able to exercise their Christian values,” says Peggy Hartshorn, executive director of Heartbeat International in Columbus, Ohio, which has 800 pregnancy-resource affiliates. “I see them taking that [spirit] back into their professions,” where, she predicts, it will “transform health care over the next 30 years.”

The evolution of pregnancy-resource centers from counseling clinics to licensed medical facilities started when ultrasound technology emerged as a tool to help abortion-vulnerable women bond with their babies. In order to provide sonogram services, pregnancy centers needed to be accredited medical clinics or work under the license of a private physician. The National Institute of Family Life Advocates developed a model the centers began to adopt.

Although not all pregnancy-resource centers are equipped with ultrasound, many have it and others are adding it. The centers might also provide prenatal and postnatal care, disease testing, pap smears, fertility awareness, sexual-integrity programs, abuse recovery and post-abortion counseling. The Pregnancy Centers of Pinellas County, near Clearwater, Fla., is even breaking ground in June for a Christian birthing center. This will not only serve its clients but the general public as well — yet another example of how pregnancy centers are becoming more business-minded and financially self-sufficient.

Chris Slattery, founder and president of Expectant Mother Care, a group of 10 facilities in New York, is adamant that the centers no longer rely on donations and hand-me-downs but must be managed like viable medical enterprises.

“We have to provide the full gamut of services on-site,” Slattery says. “Ultimately we are developing a prenatal care market, and we have to think creatively and form partnerships. It's the only economic model that will bring an opportunity for expansion. All of this puts abortion clinics under financial pressure and costs them substantial abortion business.”

The number of freestanding abortion mills has been steadily declining since 1990, from more than 2,000 to about 750. At the same time, there are now 2,300 qualified pregnancy-resource centers in the country and several thousand other pregnancy services, including hotlines, Christian maternity homes and adoption agencies.

Walking Wounded

Hartshorn says the variety of services available reflects the response to the women and families who have been seeking help.

“These clients are, in a sense, ‘products’ of a decaying culture,” she says. “In the late '60s and [through the] '70s, we presumed these women were in short-term crisis. Now we recognize them as the walking wounded who need much more than crisis intervention.”

Will Cossairt, executive director of the Total Life Care Centers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, says attitudes toward pregnancy-resource centers have changed significantly in the last decade. Its 22 centers are getting more referrals from social workers, school nurses and counselors, hospital workers and physicians who might not even be pro-life but realize the centers can offer much-needed help.

“We're getting more known and people trust us more,” Cossairt says. “It's seen as a family-friendly organization and we come across as a helpful contributor to the community, to whole neighborhoods and the society.”

While the tables might be turning, there are still millions of abortions every year and a lot of women who are not being reached, says Kristen Hansen, director of center innovations for Care-Net in Sterling, Va., which has 700 affiliates. Access to the morning-after pill is one of the challenges the centers face in reaching women. It not only encourages more sexual promiscuity but leads to more sexually transmitted diseases as well. Free pregnancy tests will still draw women into the clinics, Hansen says, but STD testing is becoming a whole other thing.

“Those centers involved in STD testing have reported that the community sees them as offering a real service,” Hansen says. “Many pregnancy centers are going in this direction because of the vast epidemic out there and the opportunity it provides to talk to young people about their lifestyle and goals at a critical time.”

Three million teen-agers contract a sexually transmitted disease every year, and state public health departments are looking for any place to help combat the problem. Pregnancy-resource centers can get STD tests and supplies from their state health department. But, even more important, they are uniquely qualified to counsel young people and serve as a preventative resource for future unplanned pregnancies, Hansen says.

Hartshorn adds that the industry has been a leader in developing abstinence programs and is now introducing sexual-integrity programs and fertility-awareness training. About 60% to 70% of pregnancy-resource clients will have a negative pregnancy test, but they're still vulnerable to STDs, pregnancy and abortion, she says. Heartbeat, Care-Net and the National Institute of Family Life Advocates developed teaching materials to encourage young girls to think more about their future.

“We've realized that a whole percentage of this younger generation don't even think of marriage in their future,” Hartshorn says. “We need to present that vision of marriage and the value of the father for her children. They will be better off economically, emotionally, physically and spiritually in an actual family. We've got a very vulnerable population and we're seeing people at a tremendously teachable moment.”

Planting Seeds

The pregnancy-resource movement is also starting to address the issue of contraception, Hartshorn adds.

“While they've always been united in opposing contraception for someone who is not married,” she says, “there is a lot more openness in our entire movement that crosses denominations. [We need] to be looking at the issue of contraception and asking ourselves: Are we being open to life in our own marriages? This fertility-appreciation movement is causing a lot of people to assess their appreciation of their own fertility and to understand more fully God's plan for sexuality.”

The Total Life Care centers have never taught natural family planning because it is intended for married couples, Cossairt says, but they do teach fertility awareness to anybody, including single women, and refer clients to the Couple to Couple League if they want to learn more. As former director of client services at the North Side Life Care Center, Kim Schloesser says nine out of the 10 women she saw on a weekly basis were very open to learning fertility awareness, and a majority had never heard of it.

“People know when they're hearing the truth. You can see it in their eyes,” she says. “When I think about how long it took for the birth-control movement to get going, people were planting seeds in the 1930s, and then it took off in the '60s. I don't know why it should be any different for the natural family planning movement. We have to focus on planting seeds, but I'm confident it will take off.”

Barb Ernster writes from Fridley, Minnesota.