If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. – Matthew 16:24
Once upon a time the least populated state in the country developed a culture of life, and abortions were rare. That prevailing attitude of do no harm to unborn lives existed among the majority of practicing physicians and community hospitals for more than 25 years, and therefore, most Wyoming women traveled out of state to obtain an abortion.
Then came the big, bad wolf under the guise of women’s healthcare – an out-of-state group attempted to establish in one of the largest towns in Wyoming. Lies spread about the state’s pregnancy resource center and protests, like those seen in other parts of the country, took place, especially after the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court’ Dobbs decision.
Falsehoods took root once again after the Wyoming Legislature passed two pro-life bills. A judge issued a stay on those measures while lawsuits go through the court system, to the “delight” of the abortion clinic’s supporters. The president of the group stated last month the clinic will “finally open the doors” of the Casper facility.
An opinion piece recently published in the Casper Star Tribune, with jabs at and accusations about Wyoming’s pregnancy resource centers, including True Care Women’s Resource Center in Casper. Much like the rhetoric spread nationally by pro-abortion groups, the writer claims several untruths, citing previous years’ blasts against pregnancy centers by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which declares “abortion is essential health care,” the AMA Journal of Ethics, and others. The article writer claimed four primary (false) points:
1. Pregnancy centers represent themselves as legitimate reproductive health care clinics
2. Pregnancy centers use deceptive practices and also lack patient-centered care
3. Women do not receive comprehensive, accurate evidence-based about all options available at these centers
4. Pregnancy centers give the impression of being medical clinics or having medical expertise
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I worked for nearly 13 years at True Care. I shared space with Wyoming-licensed registered nurses who conducted lab-quality pregnancy tests, ran STD tests for the three most prevalent STDs in our county, and performed limited obstetrical ultrasounds, for which they had been trained. The center’s nurse manager is also an RDMS (registered diagnostic medical sonographer), who not only oversees the RNs at True Care, but also helps train other Wyoming pregnancy center RNs. True Care was the first Wyoming pregnancy resource center to become a medical clinic, and a local physician serves as the medical director.
A review of pregnancy resource center websites shows these organizations offer information on services and programs. While many centers provide medical services, including pregnancy and STD testing and limited obstetrical ultrasound, others do not, just like some physicians provide physical medical care and others specialize in mental health care. Each serves a distinct function.
The websites list all pregnancy options, including abortion, and typically state they do not perform or refer for abortion.
Therefore, to say pregnancy resource medical centers are not legitimate clinics, that they use deceptive practices and lack patient-centered care, that they do not provide accurate information on all pregnancy options, that they are not medical clinics and that they lack expertise, are false statements.
Centers like True Care do not claim to be complete healthcare clinics providing all types of medical care, and there is nothing wrong with providing only specific elements of medical care. Pregnancy resource medical center nurses conduct the services for which they are trained. A gastroenterologist doesn’t perform pregnancy ultrasounds nor does a brain surgeon offer pregnancy testing. Does an abortion facility offer prenatal care?
A 2022 report by the Charlotte-Lozier Institute points out more than 5,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) offer various types of primary care services for low-income women; these do not include abortion, just like pro-life pregnancy centers. As Life Issues Institute’s Bradley Mattes pointed out last year in a commentary published by Pregnancy Help News, “The community health centers provide comprehensive healthcare to women, men and their families without offering abortion.” Are FQHCs also a target of the pro-abortion groups like Jane’s Revenge?
Pregnancy resource medical centers balance the offerings of other community medical clinics, especially for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies. However, instead of accepting such centers as a complement to other medical providers, including FQHCs and physicians’ offices, the pro-abortion activists seek to defame and destroy through falsehoods and violence. Why? Because they do not refer for or perform abortion. Some private doctors don’t either – are they also to be insulted and have their offices fire-bombed?
Once upon a time a man named Jesus carried a cross to a hillside called Golgotha. His bloody body, already racked with pain from extreme beatings and scourging, was nailed to those wooden beams.
Prior to that, Jesus issued a strong statement: “Anyone who follows me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). For people in the pro-life movement, pregnancy resource centers in particular, that cross is the persecution, lies, and violence perpetuated by extremists on the abortion side.
Jesus also told his followers they are blessed when they are persecuted and when others “utter evil against you falsely” (Matthew 5:11), and Peter said we should not be astonished by persecution and “fiery trials” (1 Peter 4:12). The pro-life and its repercussions from the world could be our cross to bear. Yet, we also know the truth and the One who is the truth and we wear the truth.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and Paul tells Christ- followers to “stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:14).
As we observe Holy Week and Easter, let us sear those words upon our hearts and conduct ourselves as the writer of Hebrews instructs, to run the race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1), and as Christ commands, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
The story is not over. Just as Jesus resurrected on Easter Sunday, he promised His followers a divine hope: eternity with Him, a place and time with no more sorrow, tears, suffering, or death. Our ‘once upon a time’ will transcend into a brand-new book.
Let us cling to that hope as we fasten the belt of truth around us and bear our cross on this earth – just as our Savior, the Lord of Truth, bore His.
