Focus on the Family debuts program

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Focus on the Family, in an effort to curb the number of abortions nationwide, has donated the first of 650 two-dimensional ultrasound machines to a pregnancy care center.

The official announcement was expected to be made in late March by Dr. James Dobson during his daily radio program. The fledgling program is expected to help center workers show fetal development to women in crisis pregnancies. Although many pregnancy centers across the country use them regularly to provide a moving image of a client’s unborn child, many more do not because of the cost.

Statistics from around the country show that, after an ultrasound, at least 70 percent of women considering abortion decide to give birth instead. The median percentage is much higher at 90 percent, a Focus on the Family survey found. To support the benefits to both woman and child, Focus last year launched “Option Ultrasound,” to provide more machines.

The program is an easy sell for Kim Regnier, executive director of the Pregnancy Resource Center in Oceanside, Calif.

“I can’t explain the emotions and moments of seeing lives radically changed,” the director said.

Such was the case several days earlier when a mom and daughter agreed to an ultrasound the day before the daughter was going to abort her baby. The daughter was reluctant. The mother was adamant about ending the pregnancy.

“The mom saw her grandbaby inutero, her daughter lying on the table and her eyes filled with tears. She said ‘Oh, my God.’ The daughter said, ‘See Mom, I told you.’”

By the end of the session the mother admitted she needed to get back to church, she had been away too long.

It was one of three such stories on one day.

“Is that an instrument that’s powerful?” she said. “Yeah. A picture’s worth a thousand words.”

In a January letter to pregnancy center directors, Julie A. Parton, Ph.D, the head of the Pregnancy Resource Ministry at the Colorado Springs-based Focus, promoted the program.

“Because we are always interested in helping pregnancy centers become ever-more professional, and because we want to help you in every way we can, to spare women and their pre-born children the pain of abortion, we have been taking an extensive look at the value of sonography in the pregnancy center setting,” Parton wrote.

Last fall, Parton’s team conducted a random phone survey of 334 centers out of 2,300 in the United States. Focus found that only about 30 percent had ultrasound capability, but most wished to upgrade their services to include it.

“Given the sheer number of women passing through centers each year, it is conceivable that countless babies could be spared if more of these mothers had the benefit of an ultrasound,” Parton said. “Because it is becoming increasingly clear that this technology carries the potential to save a significant number of lives, Focus on the Family proposes to help equip 650 additional pregnancy resource centers with ultrasound machines between now and the year 2010.”

Although the official announcement was not expected until late March, the first recipient was introduced during a February conference at the Colorado-based ministry. Karen Abbott, director of a center in Clinton, Iowa, is to receive the first machine.

“We did lots of paperwork,” Abbott said. “I felt bad when Dr. Dobson asked how many abortion-minded women we served over the past year, because it was so few. But I decided when we applied for the program that I was not going to put any limits on God. So I know, with the new machine, we will serve a lot more, in 2004. I have a cauliflower ear from calling everyone back home.”

Center directors who wish to apply for “Option Ultrasound” must fill out pre-screening forms, available on the Focus Web site and complete requirements to convert to a medical center.

“We cannot think of a more important cause than defending life in the womb and protecting women from the devastating aftermath of abortion,” Parton said. “With that in mind, we are looking forward to seeing all that the Lord will accomplish in the hearts of mothers who catch a glimpse of their little ones on the ultrasound screen in the months and years ahead.”

Clinics that already have the machines will not be eligible for the new program, but officials at those centers are convinced that lives will be saved by Focus’ program.

Donna Sanders, director of the Puyallup Center in Washington state, calls the technology the most effective ever introduced.

“I’ve been in this ministry 12 years, with lots of changes,” Sanders said. “But ultrasounds are the most impacting change we’ve ever had. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

“We can talk with women about fetal development, good relationships and God. Yet they may wonder if we are telling the truth. But when they see their baby moving on that ultrasound screen, it verifies we are believable. And that confirms us in all the other areas, too.”

Karen Plevyak, nursing director for Alternatives Pregnancy Care Clinic in Escondido, Calif. said her equipment, although outdated, is impactful, especially among young girls.

“There is a real sense of ‘this is a person,’ when you see the heart beat on the screen,” she said.

Focus on the Family is accepting donations to its “Option Ultrasound” program. For more information, call 1-800-A-Family and refer to Project #DEXULTRA. The Web site is family.org

Lori Arnold contributed to this report.
Published by Keener Communications Group, April 2004

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