Gianna's House Pregnancy Resource Center in New York has been changing and saving lives since it opened its doors and seen growth such the center is expanding. Gianna’s House began operating a mobile unit late last year, expanding its medical and options consultation reach to areas 30 to 60 miles away from its brick-and-mortar location. Additional expansions are planned for 2025, organizers recently told Pregnancy Help News.
Gianna’s House staff and board worked with Save the Storks to bring a mobile medical unit to communities beyond the town’s boundaries in order to reach more women vulnerable for abortion, said Executive Director Julie Noce.
“When we first started [the physical location], we ran Google ads, and we were getting calls from women 60 miles away,” Noce said. “So, we would drive down and get them or pay for Ubers.”
One Uber payment was more than $350.
“We realized that was not sustainable, but it was necessary so we could make impacts,” Noce said.
The need to cover more areas with women in need prompted the discussion of adding a mobile unit, she said.
“We raised the money in, really, a quick time,” Noce said, “with just one gala and a couple of very generous donors.”
They launched the mobile unit on December 6, 2024.
Outreach includes the Bronx, “the furthest south we’ve gone, and the White Plains, Westchester area,” she added. The unit has also traveled north to the Poughkeepsie region. One of those trips allowed staff to provide information on Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
“That was really exciting,” Noce said. “She had just walked out of the [abortion] center, and she wasn’t happy. We gave her an ultrasound and talked about fetal development. She took the [APR] card. I don’t know what the end result was, but we gave her the information.”
The mobile unit goes out two or three times a week, depending on the weather, and parks near busy abortion facilities, she said, adding that they’ve seen some push-back and are open to going to other places of need.
Gianna’s House has been part of a lawsuit involving New York Attorney General Letitia James and her efforts to stop pregnancy help centers and other pro-life organizations from sharing information about APR. The federal judge granted an injunction, offering, at least temporarily, a victory for those organizations.
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Upcoming additions
Gianna’s House, which opened in mid-2023, will expand again this year.
“We’re about to buy the building next door,” said Father Richard Gill, who shepherds St. Lawrence O'Toole Church in Brewster and serves as Board Chair for Gianna’s House. “We’re going to develop maternal health services.”
“God is bringing us people who know people,” Noce said. “We believe that God has put this on people’s hearts and so we at least have people to reach out to. People are open to this kind of vision. Our neighborhood would really benefit having a center that is pro-life and pro-woman.”
They’d plan to close on the building in late February and look to offer well-woman services before year-end.
About Gianna's House
Gianna's House Pregnancy Resource Center is located about an hour from New York City and is closely connected to Father Gill’s parish.
“We provide some money and volunteers,” he said. “It’s great for the parish. Some parishioners came to me and said, ‘Finally we’re doing something. We’re putting our money where our mouth is and we’re doing something to help these women.’ For some people, that’s the key to being authentic to the pro-life movement.”
The pregnancy help center offers a variety of programs and services.
“We cater to what the people need,” Noce said. “We’ve had a dad’s program and a mom’s program, where they networked with one another and supported each other. We offer pregnancy options counseling, we have a boutique that’s really overflowing, and we provide an ESL program with babysitting.”
“A lot of our women are struggling economically,” Father Gill said. “They are marginal as far as getting by. It’s really a crushing thing when they have an unexpected pregnancy, so we try to help them any way we can.”
Gianna’s House offers parenting programs for new moms using volunteer mentors and the Bright Course curriculum, Noce said. The mentors call the women monthly to check on them and share the Bright Course videos and discuss them with the clients.
“It’s more personal and one-on-one,” she said. “We’ve been able to save 20 babies since we opened.”
Tweet This: “We’ve been able to save 20 babies since we opened” - Gianna's House Pregnancy Resource Center Executive Director Julie Noce
Medical services began last summer at Gianna’s House with the addition of an ultrasound machine and nurses trained in limited obstetrical ultrasound.
Services and programs are offered in English and Spanish, Noce said, and advocates provide Spanish interpretation when a client receives medical services, such as ultrasounds.
“God has really helped us [recruit bilingual staff],” Noce said.
“We have about a 30 percent Latino population,” Father Gill added.
“We also have a chapel, and that’s a big thing we do,” Noce told Pregnancy Help News. “We have Masses, we have prayer time, and we have opportunity to bring clients closer to the Lord, too. It’s so beautiful to have that chapel upstairs.”
Two catalysts prompted Father Gill and his parishioners to develop a pregnancy help center. First, Noce’s daughter worked at a pregnancy center in Connecticut and shared stories about the work done and the women served. Second, a homeless, pregnant woman with whom Noce became acquainted needed help.
“It was difficult to find pro-life places where we could take her,” Noce said. “I had to drive her about an hour away to get an ultrasound.”
Father Gill took the idea of starting a pregnancy center to his parishioners and discovered there was a strong interest.
“We started talking about it as a ministry in our parish,” he explained.
“We recognized a need, [and] we felt like we were being called,” Noce said.
“We went to conferences, including Heartbeat International conferences, to learn because we didn’t know anything,” Father Gill added.
Since opening less than two years ago, Gianna’s House has served more than 150 women.
Creating connections
The connection between the parish and the pregnancy center is important not only for funding and finding volunteers, but also to establish connection between the Church and the clients served by Gianna’s House, Father Gill said.
“We can bring a lot of these women along and have their babies baptized and celebrate that as a Church and bring them into the life of the parish as well,” he said. “That kind of symbiosis between the Church and the center, even though they are separate organizations, really helps because a lot of these women need to have a sense of belonging. They feel embraced by the Church.”
“Saving lives and giving hope – that’s important to the parishioners and the center,” he added.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of two lawsuits brought by state AGs over sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
