Imagine a mobile pregnancy center that offers access to pregnancy help for women who may be reluctant or unable to come to a brick-and-mortar center.
That’s exactly what mobile Project Life for Tennessee ultrasound RVs are doing.
After getting a mobile ultrasound unit on the road in their own area, Project Life for Tennessee is now working on helping other pregnancy centers around the country get a mobile unit out in their community.
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The 35-plus-foot RV mobile ultrasound clinics are fully outfitted with a reception area and small couch, examination table, bathroom, and space for an ultrasound machine.
Begun in 2013, Tennessee Action Council (dba Project Life for Tennessee/Project Life4TN) formed as a faith-based pro life organization, looking to influence the community.
After learning of the powerful impact of ultrasounds on mothers experiencing unplanned pregnancies, the board began praying about obtaining an ultrasound mobile clinic.
The first mobile ultrasound clinic was purchased new from ICU Mobile in 2014 and operated in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The organization then expanded by offering an application to any center that believes a mobile ultrasound clinic will enhance their services. Initially placements were in Tennessee and Kentucky, but God led the organization to expand its market area to other states.
Purchased new, a mobile ultrasound clinic costs approximately $250,000. That doesn’t include insurance, staffing, including a nurse and/or an ultrasound tech, gas, and maintenance.
That makes mobile ultrasound ministry out of the question for many pregnancy centers.
As more units were needed, Project Life for Tennessee turned its attention towards purchasing used ICU Mobile RV clinics in good condition, and making repairs and updates as needed. Used units were purchased in 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2023. Sadly, the one purchased in 2017 was stolen, vandalized, and rendered useless.
Centers applying for one of the units understand that if selected, they will be receiving the enormous gift of such a unit at just $1000 for a year’s lease. While this saves the center the cost of a new unit, they are responsible for other expenses involved, including the ultrasound machine.
Most of the units today are donated by pregnancy centers that acquired a new unit or were no longer involved with mobile ministry and wanted the used unit to continue in God’s work. The units have low mileage, (30-50K miles). Generally, the lease is three years. Each recipient center makes a refundable deposit of $5000 to cover any repairs needed at the end of the lease.
A unit can be wrapped in the pregnancy center’s name, logo, and phone number, to promote services as it drives through the neighborhood, if the pregnancy center wants brand identity. In other cases, neutral branding is preferred.
“They’re rolling billboards for the pregnancy center,” said May Bennett, secretary of Tennessee Action Council.
Tweet This: Mobile pregnancy help units are rolling billboards for the pregnancy center.
These units generally park near college campuses, abortion clinics, retail parking lots, or motels.
In 2010, a catastrophic winter storm destroyed a center in McKinney, Texas, freezing pipes and leaving the site useless. Hope Women’s Clinic had to be completely rebuilt. As previously reported in Pregnancy Help News, a mobile unit was the answer to their year-long shut down.
In Cartersville, Tenn., Bartow Family Services has benefited from a mobile clinic since April 2022. The vehicle is out three full days a week.
“Five or six years ago we started thinking about a mobile unit, simply because it would multiply our impact,” said Kim Lewis, executive director at Bartow Family Services.
With a physical center since 2017, “we realized it would be a lot less expensive than building another center,” she said. “We just began praying about it.”
Then they saw the Pregnancy Help News article highlighting Project Life for Tennessee, and reached out to Tennessee Action Council. They quickly realized they could meet the requirements and that this could be the answer they were praying for.
Within a few months, the mobile clinic was launched. In addition to ultrasounds, health screenings for pregnant women are done, including blood pressure and mental health evaluations.
The first baby-save story out of this mobile clinic took place when a woman saw the van in a parking lot, knocked on the door, and came onboard to inquire about abortion.
She left uncommitted that day and staff couldn’t reach her afterwards.
They were afraid she had gone through with an abortion, Lewis recalled.
“We prayed and prayed,” she said. “But never heard anything from her.”
“Then a year later, the client came knocking on the door of our mobile unit when we were parked at a different location,” Lewis said. “She said she had been looking for us and was so happy because she wanted to show us her beautiful baby!”
“There was so much spiritual warfare around her appointment,” Lewis told Pregnancy Help News.
“Our whole staff was crying and so was she,” said Lewis. “We praise God for mobile ministry. It is saving lives!”
It’s often through word of mouth that a pregnancy center learns of the possibility of obtaining an ultrasound through Project Life for Tennessee, or at times Project Life for Tennessee learns of a center looking into mobile ultrasounds.
“God brings centers with a heart for mobile ministry to us,” Bennett said. “That’s generally how we identify the need.”
The next pregnancy center that will benefit from a mobile ultrasound unit is in Ohio, now coordinating with Project Life for Tennessee.
“This work has been so led by God,” Bennett said, “the way He’s guided us to pregnancy centers across the country; it’s unbelievable.”
More information on Project Life for Tennessee mobile pregnancy help clinics is available at the website at ProjectLife4TN.org or via email to May Bennett at
Editor's note: This article has been updated with Murfreesboro, Tenn., as the city where the Project for Life Tennessee ultrasound units first began operating.
