When Heather Lawless’s mother received a kidney transplant at 18, she was told she could never have children. Now in her late 20s, she was single and living at home when she discovered she was pregnant. Fearful she could die from kidney failure resulting from the pregnancy, she scheduled an abortion.
Lawless told Live Action News, “But my mother felt terminating her pregnancy was wrong. She was determined to have her baby. Everyone was so upset, because the family had sacrificed so much during her illness that they felt continuing her pregnancy was a slap in their faces. Yet, I’m here today because she chose life.”
Her parents married and Lawless was born prematurely, weighing only four pounds.
“I had to be life flighted to the NICU,” Lawless said. “And, although the pregnancy did put a strain on my mother’s kidneys, she recovered well.”
When Lawless was two years old, her mother again became pregnant and was informed her baby had Trisomy 18. This time, tragically, she chose to abort her child.
“She later divorced my father, remarried and subsequently had 16 miscarriages,” Lawless said. “She was never again able to have a healthy pregnancy. I grew up as an only child.”
While Lawless’ mother’s struggle with kidney failure eventually continued, resulting in a second kidney transplant, she never regretted giving birth to Lawless.
“She would tell me I was her greatest gift and her greatest joy,” Lawless said.
A newfound mission to help women discover their worth
Yet throughout her life, Lawless encountered seemingly insurmountable challenges that eventually led to her greatest accomplishments. While in daycare, she was molested. In her teens, she was raped; these events affected her self-worth so deeply that she began living promiscuous lifestyle. She married at 18 but divorced shortly after engaging in an extramarital affair.
Lawless said, “I decided to put my past behind me and move to Idaho where I met a man and started dating. Although he asked me to marry him, I knew I shouldn’t be with him, that he wasn’t good for me. But I got pregnant — and like my mother, chose life for my daughter and married her father.”
She recalls that while pregnant, her mother-in-law told her she would never be able to accomplish her dreams because of her pregnancy and impending motherhood. “I realized then that the world put so many labels on women, telling them what they can and cannot accomplish,” Lawless said. “Women were choosing abortion out of fear because of these types of messages.”
With a newfound purpose to change hearts and minds about abortion, Lawless started volunteering at the local pregnancy help center in the small community of Lewiston, and was eventually hired as Development Director.
Lawless said, “Throughout my experience at the center, I got to see the radical transformation a woman undergoes when she is told the truth of who she is, of her identity in Christ, and that she doesn’t have to choose abortion to fulfill her dreams.”
An encounter spurs the founding of a new ministry
God’s plans for Lawless were coming to fruition. At a CareNet conference, she met Embrace Grace founder Amy Ford.
“I immediately felt on fire for the mission of Embrace Grace,” Lawless said. “Helping women to understand their own worth and to value the life growing inside of them was such a passion of mine. I knew somehow this was my calling.”
Shortly afterward, Lawless took a brief detour from her purpose by working in real estate but was encouraged by Ford to open a pregnancy support center.
Lawless said, “God gave me the vision to launch Reliance Ministry with a goal of eliminating the need for abortion by removing the typical obstacles women encounter during an unplanned pregnancy.”
She began fundraising in 2017, and by the following year, she had opened Reliance Center, a cost-free reproductive health clinic that provides maternal health care to address the gap in critical services Lawless noticed during her tenure at the pregnancy help center. “Reliance Ministry offers a full-service, holistic approach to maternal health care built on a life-affirming foundation,” Lawless said. “We address both the physical and emotional needs of the women who come to the center and by doing so, empower her to choose life.”
The ministry instituted an educational program that offers financial assistance for women who require treatment for addictions, so they can obtain safe and adequate housing, or can remove themselves from abusive relationships. “We determine what the woman’s barriers are and break down those barriers by offering individualized solutions to meet her unique needs,” Lawless said.
Like pregnancy help centers, Reliance offers free services such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STI testing, counseling for men and women, as well as parenting classes. These provide a much-needed safety net to show abortion is not a necessary solution to an unplanned pregnancy. The ministry also provides outreach to men through Reliance Men, teaching men to recognize their worth and providing resources to break addictions to pornography and sex.
For Lawless, there is more work to do. She is currently fundraising to establish a maternity home, Reliance Home, and a coffee shop, Braveheart Coffee, where women will work to acquire job skills while living at the maternity home.
“I have so much passion to educate women, to teach them that their inherent worth is found in God, not in sexual transactions or sexual prowess,” Lawless said. “At the root of sexual promiscuity is not knowing your value in God’s eyes.”
Lawless believes that her ministry is well positioned to help women and men make choices that edify their lives and empower them to make healthy choices. “God’s voice gets drowned out in a loud world. Serving women isn’t just about providing for their physical and financial needs, but also helping them understand their value comes from the One who created them,” Lawless said. “That’s the key to ending abortion.”
Editor’s Note, 8/27/24: A previous version of this article named the maternity home by an incorrect name. We regret the error.
