With the last dollar of its $25,000 crowdsourcing campaign spoken for, All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center is one step closer to opening its doors in Bloomington, Indiana.
And the moment that happens, abortion enthusiasts' long-held hopes will have come true. Finally, finally, there will be a fake, deceptive pregnancy center in operation.
You see, All-Options is abortion crusaders' best attempt to muddy the waters of the 2,500 true pregnancy help locations serving U.S. women and families with accurate information, compassion, and hope.
Heralded by the radically pro-abortion RH Reality Check as a "first-of-its-kind" (apparently in the same respect that a possumburger stand would be first of its kind), All-Options is a classic case of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
That is, since countless and repeated campaigns have failed to cast pregnancy help organizations as a lurking, deceptive enemy, the opponents of life have switched tactics and joined our ranks. To them we say, welcome.
Breaking the "Monopoly"
The story of All-Options starts with Backline, a pregnancy "Talkline" established to parody pregnancy helplines such as Option Line® that frontline life-savers have been answering since the late 1960s.
Backline's founder, Grayson Dempsey, earned her chops with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, and has since moved on to her present gig at RH Reality Check—whose webpage, incidentally, includes an ad for a particularly gauche fundraising event called, "Tacos. Beers. Abortion."
Now looking to further the cause of aborting boys and girls everywhere, All-Options seeks to break the existing "monopoly on supporting parents and people who are continuing their pregnancies."
"It's time to reclaim the pregnancy center model in the spirit of true all-options counseling," the organization told supporters on its CrowdRise.com campaign. While there is much for pregnancy help organizations to emulate from the cutting-edge campaign itself, there's just not much truth in the idea that "the pregnancy center model" is something for abortion zealots to "reclaim."
Grammar lessons aside, truth is never threatened by fabrication. That's why we welcome All-Options, and we celebrate the great work God will do in spite of their best intentions.
Truth and the Power of Choice
We are confident, that as Executive Director J. Parker Dockray and her team seek to "reclaim the pregnancy center model in the spirit of true all-options counseling," women will continue to reject abortion as unwanted, just as they do every day in pregnancy help organizations all around the world.
The fact is, most mothers have abortions not because it's legal, but because they believe they have no other choice. Empowered with true choice by the compassionate staff and volunteers at pregnancy help organizations, an estimated 90 percent of women served choose life for themselves and their children.
No pregnant mother should feel so alone and hopeless that she ends her child's life through abortion. That's why Heartbeat International's pregnancy help organizations provide true compassion, support, and real choice for the mother, her family, and the community.
Ulterior motives aside, if All-Options is about that same mission, then they may need to stock up on more material supplies like diapers and bottles than they're expecting.
(Of course, All-Options will do its work with one arm tied behind its back, since the $25K does not include a dime toward ultrasound equipment—a curious oversight by an organization ostensibly looking to provide insight into "all options.")
As such, All-Options has some catching up to do, with well over half of Heartbeat's affiliate pregnancy resource centers already offering free ultrasound services to women who are wrestling with the often-harsh realities surrounding an unexpected or difficult pregnancy.
What about "listening?"
Included in All-Options' "New Vision of Support" is the poignant, if unoriginal, statement, "Sometimes it seems like everyone has an opinion about what you should do, and it's hard to find someone who will just listen." (emphasis original)
To sit with a woman and truly listen to her, hearing her story and validating her as a person, is essential to the woman-centered peer counseling pregnancy help organizations have been committed to for over 40 years.
In fact, truly listening to a woman and helping her to see all of her options are keys to Heartbeat International's foundational volunteer training resource, The LOVE Approach™, which has sold over 17,000 copies since it was first introduced in 1994.
Listening to a woman, helping her to see her options and recapture a healthy vision of herself, and empowering her to walk forward in hope—this goes to the very core of why Heartbeat International, our network of frontline life-savers, and 24/7, 365 pregnancy helpline, OptionLine® exist.
So, welcome to the game, All-Options. You have so much to learn. Don't worry, though: We'll keep an eye on you.
