Recognizing the importance of fathers in a pregnancy decision, pregnancy centers are continuing to tailor services to include men.
Close to 50% of Heartbeat International affiliated pregnancy centers now offer services or assistance for men, according to Heartbeat’s 2026 Life Trends report. The percentage has risen steadily over the last several years.
Pregnancy Resource Centers of Central Oregon has a Fatherhood Coaching program at its three locations.
Fatherhood coaches emphasize the sanctity of life, discuss abstinence and marriage, the negative impact of growing up without a dad, and the devastation of abortion.
Executive Director Anna Tracy said the coaches pray and share the Gospel with dads.
Several of the fatherhood coaches are post-abortion themselves, she said, and "give them a voice and understanding that our women client advocates cannot give."
The center also offers a Doctor Dad program that educates dads on pregnancy, fatherhood, childcare, health, and safety.
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At Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center in Champaign, Ill., dads are offered a male advocate to speak with, as well as parenting classes and fatherhood groups.
Any male client who has already experienced an abortion is offered post-abortion healing retreats.
"We have always welcomed men to be part of the process and worked to include them, while serving the woman, but did not have male-focused clients and programs until later,” COO Kristen Lonberger told Pregnancy Help News.
They have not always experienced men coming to the appointments, she said, but have always been intentional about responding to any needs they saw, so when they started to see more men engage or be present, they adapted to try to serve them.
The Well Pregnancy Resource Center in Utah assists dads through its Fatherhood 101 program.
This includes counseling with a male advocate for emotional, spiritual, and practical support. Some of the lessons offered through the fatherhood curriculum are healthy relationship habits, wise decision making, the basics of infant-toddler health, safety, and welfare, bonding with your unborn or newborn baby, and financial education.
Todd Baker has been part of the men's mentoring program with the Pregnancy Resource Center in Maryville, Tenn., for the past 17 years, full-time since January 2023 when the need became apparent for someone to be available for men more regularly.
“We're seeing men stepping up to the role of fatherhood," Baker said.
Baker and two other male mentors work to address high school drop-out rates and its effects on employment issues, try to make connections for male clients with local businesses. Post-abortion counseling is also offered to men.
In the north Dallas area, Real Options originally had a male advocate in the office only intermittently.
Rich Shelton began part-time, along with teaching abstinence programs in area schools. He began full time center hours in January 2023.
"We're missing a big opportunity if a man comes in and there's no full-time advocate,” he said. “We have so many issues that are impacted by absentee dads.
Shelton says he's seen an uptick in men coming to the center.
"We do the marketing and the Holy Spirit rings them in," he said.
Shelton also teaches a men's program at two area jails.
He stressed the need to counter the narrative that an unborn baby’s father should not be part of a mother’s pregnancy decision.
In Lynchburg, Va., at Virginia Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center, a new men's ministry was at the foundational stage when Landry Coleman, director of Men's Engagement, came on board about a year ago.
The center decided to rebrand the men’s services into the Noble Pursuit fatherhood program, developed by Landry, with the aim of equipping men for “purposeful manhood and authentic fatherhood.”
“Our goal was to convey that men are important and that living a life that is purposeful and authentic is a noble pursuit,” Coleman said.
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There had been unofficial help for men for a long time, with one male advocate been volunteering one day a week for over a decade. But with the center seeing more men coming in, there was a need to have full time male advocates as well as more services for men.
Coleman says they plan to create a framework that other pregnancy centers can use when they are trying to start up men’s services.
“Our website will house trainings, a podcast, a blog, and so many other things to help pour into the men that are showing up to pregnancy centers across the globe," he said.
Heartbeat International responded to feedback from past annual pregnancy help conferences on desired programming this year with more training on fatherhood programs and ministering to men, offering an In-Depth Day dedicated to fatherhood programs, along with four in-person workshops and three virtual workshops focused on engaging fathers and strengthening ministry to men.
Some additional men’s ministry resources are available HERE.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
