Even though the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, many on the pro-life side understand that this does not mean the abortion fight is over. In fact, the true battle has just begun. With states once again in charge of determining how they will restrict – or not restrict – the practice, the pro-abortion crowd is once again aggressively participating in the debate now that they no longer have the cover of the federal government to force states to adhere to their policy.
Pro-lifers have already been working in earnest to dissuade mothers from terminating their pregnancies through various organizations like crisis pregnancy centers. A report from the Washington Times explained that Christians “are stepping up efforts to provide high-tech ultrasound machines to more than 2,700 pregnancy resource centers, faith-based outposts that counsel women in crisis pregnancy situations across the nation.” These devices have proven instrumental in convincing women not to abort their babies.
Focus on the Family, and the Psalm 139 Project are the two Christian organizations spearheading the initiative. The latter announced in June that it had raised $1.5 million to buy 50 machines, which can cost between $30,000 to $40,000 each.
Robyn Chambers, executive director of advocacy for children at Focus on the Family, told the Washington Times that “nearly 60% of women who are really abortion-determined will change their minds and choose life” after seeing an ultrasound showing the baby growing inside of her. One-on-one counseling is also provided for these women to help them decide how to move forward.
“We hear from centers that they have clients that will come in and say, ‘I have an abortion scheduled later in the week. … You have one opportunity to basically talk me out of this,’” Chambers explained. “‘Abortion-determined’ can mean that that woman has searched online, [and] she knows exactly what she’s going to do.”
Rev. Richard Land, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, also touted the efficacy of ultrasounds. “Once they see that sonogram, they’re much, much less likely to abort,” he said. “It reminds me of my old Princeton professor Paul Ramsey, who said if wombs had windows, abortion would not be around.”
The data seems to bear out what advocates for ultrasounds claim. In January 2014, the University of California San Francisco conducted a study in which researchers analyzed records from more than 15,000 women seeking abortions from Planned Parenthood clinics in Los Angeles.
The researchers assessed each woman based on how committed she was to her decision to terminate her pregnancy. Each fell into one of three categories: high decision certainty, medium decision certainty, and low decision certainty. The participants were offered the opportunity to see an ultrasound image of their babies before undergoing the procedure, and 42 percent took the researchers up on their offer.
The majority of participants (85 percent) fell into the “high decision certainty” category. Nearly all of these went through with the abortion whether they viewed the ultrasound or not. Among the “medium” and “low” certainty groups, 1.3 percent of those who did not view the ultrasound changed their minds about having an abortion. However, of those who saw the ultrasound, 4.8 percent decided to keep their children. This shows that offering ultrasounds can save lives.
Care Net noted:
[W]e can gain insights from the behavior of the women classified as having medium or low decision certainty. In this study of 15,000 women who showed up for their abortion appointment, 7% were not certain about their decision – that was more than 1,000 women. If a similar percentage of the 1.05 million women getting abortions in the U.S. each year are also uncertain, that’s over 73,000 women! These are the women who can benefit the most from pregnancy center services.
The data shows that the initiative to equip more pregnancy centers with ultrasound machines is one worth supporting. The pro-abortion crowd will be going full throttle in its efforts to convince mothers to abort their children – even in states with restrictive laws against the practice. Pregnancy centers are one of the best ways of saving the lives of children, which is why progressives detest them. There is a reason why pro-abortion activists are firebombing and vandalizing buildings housing these organizations – they are a threat to the abortion industry. With the onslaught of attacks that are set to be waged against these organizations, they will need all the help they can get.
