Leaders at First Unitarian Church of Dallas cut the ribbon Friday for a new pregnancy resource center intended to provide comprehensive reproductive health information and serve as a complement to the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
The True Pregnancy Resource Center is a direct response to Texas' strict abortion ban, which made the procedure illegal in all cases except when it threatened the mother's life. Abortion clinics across the state have been closed, limiting access for female health care providers in areas already known as maternal care deserts.
Located right next door to the now-closed Southwestern Women's Surgery Center, which provided abortions, the new pregnancy center offers everything from counseling, ultrasounds, and adoption to parenthood and birth travel. We will provide information about all possible outcomes of pregnancy. Abortions are being performed in neighboring states.
“This is a little redemption.” [former Southwestern Women’s staff]” said the Rev. Daniel Canter, CEO and senior pastor of First Unitarian. “And none of this is really about me. It's about having the church say this issue of reproductive dignity is important, about the opportunity to do good in the world.”
First Unitarians have long been deeply involved in the world of abortion advocacy, with ties to the movement that predate the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Like the overarching Unitarian Universalist denomination, the Dallas church takes a pro-reproductive choice position.
The church has already partnered with the New Mexico Abortion Fund to fly abortion seekers from North Texas to Albuquerque. Church leaders said they are trying to fill a gap in resources as abortion clinics close and restrictive state laws limit what obstetrician-gynecologists' offices can say.
Although not clinics, crisis pregnancy centers are often inexpensive and easily accessible for people seeking advice after receiving a positive pregnancy test. These centers are often affiliated with religious groups that staunchly oppose abortion, and research shows that they can provide medically inaccurate information, including claims linking abortion procedures to breast cancer and infertility. It is known that there is a sex.
There are nearly 200 such centers in Texas, according to a map of crisis pregnancy centers compiled by researchers at the University of Georgia. NBC News producers who visited crisis pregnancy centers in the state were reportedly told that abortion causes mental illness.
The Texas Legislature appropriated more than $100 million for abortion alternatives programs in 2022-2023, a 25% increase from the previous budget. The program contracts with organizations such as Crisis Pregnancy Centers. We provide people with education and care coordination to help them carry their pregnancies to the end.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that places like crisis pregnancy centers are “unethical and run by people whose purpose is to dissuade, dissuade, or prevent people from seeking certain reproductive health care options.” They argue that patients should know how to tell when they are in a place where they are “in the room.”
The Rev. Deneen Robinson, executive director of the Truth Pregnancy Resource Center, said the office intends to provide options to all pregnant people, regardless of how they plan to proceed with their pregnancy. Stated.
“What we're trying to live by here is that reproductive health care is a continuum. It's not just abortion. It's not just adoption. It's not just parenting,” Robinson said. Told. “But all of these things are actually related in some way, because they start with people who have to make decisions about reproductive health care, and who may need some support in doing so. Because there is.”
The center has three full-time employees, including a licensed professional counselor and administrator. Volunteers will also be used, but the volunteers who interact with patients will need to be qualified medical professionals, such as counselors or nurses.
Visitors to the center are eligible for 13 months of counseling, said Adrell Collins, the center's full-time counselor who previously worked at Southwestern Women's Surgery Center.
Kanter said the organization already has the funding to operate for the first few years. The center will be open four days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays as needed.
