Louisville pregnancy centers see increase in women seeking support

Earlier this year, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld two state laws protecting virtually all preborn children from abortion. Since then, local pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) have been rising to the occasion to provide women with the life-affirming care they need.

According to WDRB, the number of women seeking out PRCs is increasing. One center, Bside U for Life, offers free ultrasounds, pregnancy testing, STI testing and treatment, life skills classes, child care and more, including support after the baby is born.

“I was very very nervous,” one client, Jessie Davis, said. “I called one of the workers and said ‘I don’t know what to do and I don’t think I can go through with this.’ If I did not have Bside U, it would’ve been so much harder.”

In addition to counseling, Bside U for Life gave her a free crib, car seat, and bassinet.

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Monica Henderson, executive director of Bside U for Life, said they’ve seen a 65% increase in clients.

“Certain months, it was double what it was prior,” she said. “A woman who is facing an unexpected pregnancy now, her decision-making process — the challenges that she faces — that didn’t change with the law.”

Planned Parenthood, however, is having less of an impact, though Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, said, “We are turning up the volume to ensure our patients know we are still here for them.”

It’s difficult to imagine how Planned Parenthood is there for women — other than to promote abortion; it certainly won’t provide free baby supplies and offers little-to-no prenatal care — although in a post-Roe landscape, this could change if its centers wish to remain solvent. Meanwhile, its own annual reports show that its other “services,” like cancer screenings, are minuscule, though frequently touted by the abortion giant. Overall, the number of cancer screenings Planned Parenthood performs has dropped 78% since 2004.

Planned Parenthood’s Gibron said the abortion giant is “still here” for women, but it is PRCs, not abortion facilities, that are helping women with their concerns and needs during and after pregnancy. That’s likely why the number of women going to PRCs is increasing while Planned Parenthood was recently forced to drop a lawsuit because it couldn’t find a single woman willing to say in court that the pro-life laws in Kentucky are harming them.