The question of what to do about unplanned pregnancy that began to be asked 50 years ago continues to be asked – and answered – by a Florida pregnancy help organization.
Community Pregnancy Clinics Incorporated (CPCI) began in 1974 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s original Roe v. Wade decision. The organization was called Emergency Pregnancy Services at its inception and was created after a priest challenged his parishioners with the question, ‘So, what are we going to do about it?’
That question continues to challenge the organization, prompting its efforts to expand and reach primarily abortion-minded and abortion-determined women. “Responsive innovation” motivates the staff, board, and volunteers, CPCI CEO Scott Baier said.
“We’re responding innovatively to the challenges that we’re facing, such as the changing abortion landscape,” Baier said. “So, we’re responding to that ever-present question, ‘What are we going to do about it?’”
Since opening in 1974, the organization has saved more than 23,000 unborn lives, including more than 1,550 last year, according to the latest annual report.
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An early response and continual growth
Emergency Pregnancy Services was among the first dozen pregnancy resources to open after abortion was legalized in the United States. Within the first 10 years, the Naples-based center moved into a space near the local Planned Parenthood. Since then, additional strategies implemented by the organization include starting an abstinence education program with pro-life advocate Pam Stenzel, becoming a life-affirming medical clinic with limited obstetrical ultrasound offerings, opening a satellite location in Fort Meyers and additional centers in other areas, and rebranding/renaming the organization Community Pregnancy Clinics.
CPCI now consists of five physical locations – two in Naples, one in Fort Myers, one in Sarasota, and one in Gainesville, and two mobile units. CPCI recently purchased a new unit from ICU Mobile to replace an older vehicle, and Baier and his team are currently deciding where to place it.
Using mobile units is just one way CPCI reaches abortion-minded and abortion-determined women and those likely to choose life who live in impoverished areas.
“We want to take the mobile unit where it will be the most effective,” he said. “That’s a response to ‘What are we going to do about it?’”
An area under consideration is a community with five zip codes, and each of those zip codes recorded 500 abortions last year, Baier said.
Four years as CEO
Baier became the organization’s CEO in June 2020. He came with an education background, having served 20 years as a Catholic school teacher and principal. During a time, he was contemplating the next chapter of his life, and he learned about the opening available at CPCI. He and his family had been supporters of the organization and that the position intrigued him for its effectiveness and the team of workers and their focus on the mission. Baier has found his education background helpful in his role leading CPCI.
“Some of our programs really need an educational perspective,” he said. “It’s a beautiful way God had prepared me for this.”
Reaching youth and college students
A program significant to CPCI’s work is called SHARE, Sexual Health and Relationship Education, a sexual integrity and healthy relationships program presented to middle school, high school, and college students. Stenzel remains a partner in the growing and effective program, which has reached more than 3,000 students during the past 10 years, Baier said.
“The SHARE program is a way to talk about prevention,” he said. “To get to college students, but even before that, and we’re now launching the new version of SHARE.”
One component of the program using the Baby Olivia video from Live Action, and another is geared for parents.
Currently, Christian schools and youth and church groups are the target audiences, however, public school offerings are being eyed as well.
“You have to have a champion in the schools [to get in with sexual integrity programs],” he said.
Baier and his staff are looking to train more ambassadors to provide the program in the area.
“I want to increase those numbers of kids we reach,” he said.
Florida remains third or fourth in the United States for abortion rates, and the state has some of the largest universities in the country, from 55,000 – 77,000 students, he said.
“We have a lot of abortions because of college-aged students,” Baier said. “Our goal is to get to those college towns.”
That can be through SHARE, via mobile units, and/or with actual buildings. A direct focus upon college students is known as YOUniversity, with the 2019 opening of CPCI’s fifth medical clinic in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida at Gainesville, a campus of more than 75,000 students. The community of 130,000+ is also home for other colleges. Outreach to Gainesville’s young people with medical services that include std testing is a priority, Baier said.
Online marketing is another aspect of strategically marketing to young people, who rely on the internet for research into solving their problems and answering their questions.
“The reality of chemical abortion has changed the landscape and will continue,” he said. “Brick-and-mortar clinics are being by-passed. We have to respond to that, and one of the ways we’re doing that is with our digital marketing in addition to the mobile units. The idea is to reach them before the alternatives.”
CPCI works with a digital marketing company for that online outreach, investing thousands of dollars each month to draw abortion-minded and abortion-determined women to the five locations or the two mobile units.
The organization also offers Abortion Pill Reversal (APR). Since implementing this program in 2019, the organization has had 34 reversal starts, with three known saves in 2023, Baier said. The clinics have also referred women to the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network hotline, operated by Heartbeat International – those numbers are not counted in CPCI’s statistics, only APR cases under CPCI’s care, Baier added.
Tweet This: We’re responding innovatively to challenges we’re facing-such as the changing abortion landscape-Community Pregnancy Clinics CEO Scott Baier
Continuing to meet the challenges
Abortion is on the ballot in Florida this year. Amendment 4, if passed, would nullify the current six-week abortion limit that went into effect earlier this year. This constitutional amendment, brought forth by a group called Floridians Protecting Freedom, states, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
Baier said many people are watching to see how the vote goes. Responding to the question, “What are we going to do about it?” will likely continue to be asked.
“No matter what happens in Florida or in the nation, there will always be a need for us, for pregnancy centers everywhere,” he said.
Meanwhile, to celebrate the 50-year milestone and all God has done through the organization, Baier and the staff and board held several special events in 2024, including a gala in Naples, with political commentator and author Michael Knowles as keynote speaker, and one in Sarasota.
CPCI planned its Life Saver Festival, a family-friendly community event, for October 5 to celebrate the organization’s 50 years serving Naples. The new mobile unit was set to be parked on-site, and activities including food trucks, games, bounce houses, face painting, and live music, featuring Baier’s son and daughter were planned.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Baier told Pregnancy Help News in advance of the event. “It’ll be a time to celebrate life as a community and to celebrate our 50 years.”
