NEW ORLEANS — In 1965, Hurricane Betsy slammed the City of New Orleans with winds of 100 mph. Barbara Mire, who was pregnant with her daughter Susan, weathered the storm and its aftermath.

Now 40 years later, Susan Mire finds herself and her own “baby” struggling to weather the effects of the strongest hurricane to hit New Orleans, Katrina.

Mire’s “baby” — the pregnancy resource center called the Woman’s New Life Center — was severely damaged by Katrina and is closed. It had served for more than four years as a pro-life beacon of hope for pregnant women.

When Mire, founder and executive director of the center, was finally able to return to the center, a 1,100-square foot office on Napoleon Avenue in uptown New Orleans in late September, she was shocked by the damage.

“I burst out crying,” Mire said. “It was horrible. We had five feet of water that had been there for a couple of weeks. There was mold all the way up to the ceiling, a big hole in the ceiling, and lots of furniture on the floor. What was salvageable fit in the backseat of my car.”

Of the seven pregnancy resource centers located in the metropolitan area, the Woman’s New Life Center was hit the hardest, and was the only one that could not be salvaged.

But Mire and the board of directors are determined to reopen what was once a life-saving medical clinic. Since opening in October 2001, the Woman’s New Life Center has saved more than 200 babies and their mothers from abortion.

“We had an ultrasound machine,” Mire said. “We were doing a lot of services and social services for these women. We were cookin’.”

Unfortunately, the center cannot return to its former location. “There’s no hospital support there. All the major hospitals are gone,” Mire said.

Closed hospitals mean no doctors around, she explained, “and no doctors around mean little or no referral sources to refer a pregnant woman to. Once a pregnancy is confirmed, it’s desirable to get a woman into prenatal care as soon as possible.”

Moreover, said Mire, “The people we served [in the Uptown New Orleans district] are gone, too. But we know many women [throughout the New Orleans metro area] are looking for abortions … some of whom will now fall into that category because of the hurricane. I am still taking calls on our crisis line and … I have started to average about three abortion calls per day in the last week.”

Indeed, abortion businesses have reopened in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, and in uptown New Orleans.

Rachel Quartano, executive director of the Northlake Crisis Pregnancy Center in Covington, said her center also sustained damage but has recovered.

“A tree fell on the center, but the ultrasound machine and computers were fine,” Quartano said. “We’re surviving.”

The Archdiocese of New Orleans itself runs three Access pregnancy and referral centers. One was heavily damaged but is set to reopen this month. According to Donna Breaux, director of pro-life services for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the aftermath of Katrina has been “heartbreaking.”

She said, “Since we reopened the other two non-damaged centers, we’ve been very busy. We’re seeing more crisis clients. We’ve also seen an increase in adoption placements since the storm.”

New Orleans pro-life advocates like Mire and Breaux also have to contend with abortion providers soliciting pregnant women whose hearts and minds are more fragile than ever in the wake of Katrina.

“They [Planned Parenthood businesses] are offering reduced rates for birth control and other services,” Breaux said. “It’s a shame. Women are not given all the options when they go to a Planned Parenthood clinic. A lot of adolescents go out of fear, get what they think they want but leave with no education.”

Breaux noted that television news has “portrayed the physical mess but not begun to portray the emotional and spiritual havoc” caused by Katrina. However, she commented that a number of generous donors have helped the Access pregnancy and referral centers.

“We’re blessed that physicians we work with are taking our clients and referrals with Medicaid pending,” Breaux said. “We were also forced to do layoffs of staff, but those staff have come back as volunteers.”

She added that the centers are also “blessed to have the support of the archdiocese.”

Archdiocesan financial support is one blessing that Mire and the Woman’s New Life Center do not have, however. The Woman’s New Life Center is a Catholic pregnancy resource center and is a 501(c)3 non profit organization. But it is independently run and not affiliated with the archdiocese. Currently, Mire and the board of directors have raised about $15,000 out of the $250,000 they need to reopen. The $250,000 includes the center’s budget for the first year.

“We started some fund-raising nationwide,” Mire said. “We’re dependent on support from people around the country.”

While rebuilding New Orleans will take years, the Woman’s New Life Center hopes to be open in a matter of months.

“The board and I are committed to keeping the center going,” Mire said. “We hope to reopen in early 2006, and we hope to open somewhere in the metro area where we can reach the most women. We know that we’re needed.”

Martin Mazloom is based

in Monterey Park, California.

Information

Woman’s New Life Center

Temporary office

5241 Citrus Blvd., Apt. U352

River Ridge, LA 70123

[email protected]