Program Equips 200th Pregnancy Center With Ultrasound Imaging
by Mary Rettig
March 28, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The Sanctity of Human Life Director for Focus on the Family says the ministry's Option Ultrasound program has reached an exciting milestone. The initiative to equip pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) nationwide for ultrasound services as a way to prevent abortions recently saw the placement of its 200th imaging machine in Joplin, Missouri.Focus on the Family's Kim Conroy says since the program started two years ago, Option Ultrasound has heard numerous stories about how the program has helped save the lives of unborn children. One story in particular is "very unusual," she recalls, "because this clinic is down the road from an abortion clinic."
In that instance, Conroy recounts, the pregnant woman had actually gone into the nearby abortion facility to have a procedure and learned there from the abortionist that she would be charged twice as much money because she was pregnant with twins.
"And so she left just in shock and went down to the PRC and got to see those babies," the Focus on the Family official says. "Because of the ultrasound she was able to meet those babies face to face. She just broke down and said, 'I cannot believe I was considering doing this.'"
The people behind the Option Ultrasound initiative hope to place ultrasound services in 650 PRCs by the year 2010. Conroy is pleased to report that the growth of the program is right on track. "We've been pleasantly surprised at how many centers really have the vision to convert into a medical clinic," she says.
Turning a PRC into a medical facility equipped to offer ultrasound imaging to pregnant women is not as simple as some might suppose, the Sanctity of Life specialist points out. "It's not just a service you add [by] providing ultrasound and machines," she explains. "You really have to do a lot of work to change your legal status, and these centers have worked so hard."
Providing centers with the equipment is "just a great gift that we can give them," Conroy says. "It's really an investment in that center that they will use for years to come."
To date, Conroy notes, Option Ultrasound has been told of more than 6,300 babies that were saved because of the program. But as the effort continues to establish ultrasound service in more PRC's, she emphasizes, the local centers will require monetary support from the public in order to keep the program going.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
