I have a friend who…

I have a friend who called me not too long ago sobbing. She had just found out she was pregnant with her fifth child. She had no idea how she was going to “do this”. She was emotionally, physically and financially spent. She is not the type of woman someone would consider “abortion vulnerable.” She will have access to wonderful medical care for herself and her child, but she’s looking for something more. Having no family in town, she will be bringing her children who are not yet school-aged to appointments with her. She will have to face doctors and nurses who ask her if she wants to continue the pregnancy. She will be placed in a situation that makes her already stressful situation even more stressful.
I have friend who wishes her doctor would help her with her Natural Family Planning. While she has wonderful resources available to her online, she craves a relationship with a doctor who will provide the type of care she is looking for– someone who doesn’t pressure her to use contraception.
I have a friend who recently traveled 400 miles to see a doctor who would help her with her infertility naturally. Without even attempting to figure out what might not be working in her body, her home town doctors suggested fertility drugs and IVF treatments. She wanted something more.
I have friends who put off appointments with their OB/Gyn so they do not have to bring their children to appointments that might be uncomfortable for them. I have friends who wish they had better breastfeeding support. I have friends who wish they had like-minded doctors and nurses to see even when they are not pregnant.
These women deserve something more. Something better. All women do. There are 650 Planned Parenthood locations across the United States that women go to for health care services. There are 2300 pregnancy resource centers to help answer to Planned Parenthood’s abortion mindedness, yet their services do not go far enough or they are not what a woman thinks of when they find themselves in difficult situations. When a woman finds herself in an unwanted pregnancy or a difficult situation during her fertile years, we need a recognizable place for her to go.

The Guiding Star Centers opening up across the United States have the potential to become a national affiliated alternative to Planned Parenthood. We need women to think of Guiding Star Centers as the choice for all their fertility needs that will provide them with not only the medical care they need during an unplanned pregnancy, but also the medical and emotional care before, during and after pregnancy as well.
Guiding Star Centers are necessary for women. They have the ability to be the answer to Planned Parenthood. They have the potential to be a recognizable place where women can seek medical services and that can provide women with so much more than the alternative. They are what the pro-life movement needs.
We need to be able to say “I have a friend who goes to a Guiding Star Center.”