Live Action founder and president Lila Rose sat down recently for a Live Action Exclusive interview with Roland Warren, president and CEO of Care Net pregnancy resource centers. During their conversation, Warren explained why his organization is focused on making sure ministering to fathers is an important part of the organization’s mission to help women and their babies.
Warren explained that he grew up in a home with a single mother, and the absence of his father in his youth was pivotal in shaping much of the work that he does now.
“Kids have a hole in their soul in the shape of their dad,” he said.
Another impactful event occurred while he was in college when his now-wife got pregnant with their first child while they were dating. While a nurse at the university health services immediately encouraged her to abort, Warren says that his wife wanted to keep their baby. Recognizing the responsibility that they both faced, Warren and his wife soon got married and continued to grow their family.
Warren said that the experience of an unplanned pregnancy helps him minister to others who are in similar situations. He notes that in order to choose abortion, “you have to believe that nothing good can come from this child.”
“I’ve been where you’ve been, but you haven’t been where I’ve been,” he tells people, noting the immense good that has come from his and his wife’s unplanned pregnancy — including not only his son’s life, but now the life of his grandchild.
Warren believes abortion is not just a woman’s issue, but a family issue, noting that 86% of abortions are committed on the children of unmarried women. He also notes that in the vast majority of cases, the mother of the preborn child is heavily influenced by the father in making her decision of whether or not to choose abortion. If he doesn’t step into his role as provider and protector, she often feels alone and unprepared.
Warren’s ministry draws heavily on a Biblical worldview, and he uses the Holy Family as his model, explaining that Mary also faced a pregnancy she had not planned for.
“What did God do to make sure Mary’s unplanned pregnancy wasn’t a crisis pregnancy? He sent an angel to Joseph,” he said. “God sends an angel to both Mary and Joseph — he sees the raising of Jesus as an equal call in their humanity.”
“In this story, you see not only the sanctity of life but the sanctity of marriage and family as God designed it,” he added.
With this in mind — and the experience he had growing up fatherless — Warren focuses much of his ministry on reaching these fathers and encouraging them to take on the role God intended as husband, father, and provider. In order to do that, he believes you have to go, seek the men out, and invite them in to be part of the conversation.
To that end, many of the Care Net pregnancy centers now have a men’s ministry. Men are invited to appointments where they can see the ultrasounds and take part in what is happening. Warren and his wife have also developed a program that teaches men how to start to be a father and educates them on things they’ll need to know when dealing with children. This is especially helpful for men who might have grown up in homes without a father and don’t know how or where they should start.
In closing, Warren said that the most important focus for the pro-life movement now, following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, is mobilizing the church. “The church, the body of Christ, has to be coming alongside these folks who are facing these pregnancy decisions because we have that transformational message of God’s design for family… and God’s call for discipleship,” he explained.
“Transformation doesn’t come from the culture to the church, transformation comes from the church to the culture,” he said. “And so if the church isn’t right, we can’t expect to get the culture right.”
