Friday, May 20, 2011

13,000 more women helped by Positive Alternatives program

By Scott Fischbach
MCCL Executive Director

A couple of weeks ago, my wife Michelle and I were able to tour a pregnancy care center in greater Minnesota. It's one of the centers that receives a Positive Alternatives grant from the Minnesota Department of Health. The center was extremely well set up – almost like a cross between a doctor's office and the baby section at Walmart. Clean, professional and very welcoming. As we walked around and saw the exam room, the counseling room and the wealth of diapers and formula, we ran into a young attractive couple holding a blonde-haired blue-eyed little guy who was almost two years old. Michelle gave the little guy a high five, and I could not resist asking how they were involved with the center.

The mom and dad got a little emotional, but their story is actually fairly common. When they discovered they were pregnant they did not know what they were going to do. Abortion was looking pretty good. Their parents were no help and told them to "take care of it." Both mom and dad were out of high school, but under-employed and not attending college. All options in life were looking pretty bad. Then they called the pregnancy care center and it all started to turn around.

Relying on its Positive Alternatives grant, the care center helped this young couple in every way imaginable. They decided to keep their baby and try to make a go of it. Today, this young couple – with their good-looking little two year-old – are back in the game of life. The dad is working a good job that will allow career advancement, and the mom just got her two-year degree and is enrolled this fall to finish up her 4-year degree. They are making it, and Positive Alternatives helped it all come together.

Today the Minnesota Department of Health released its evaluation of the program. You can take a look at it here.

It truly is an amazing report – over 13,000 more women in Minnesota have been helped by the Positive Alternatives program! Over 13,000! We have always said that it is not enough to just be against abortion – we must be for life. The Positive Alternatives program says YES to life!