Many pregnant women say they need an abortion not because of a lack of awareness or recognition that they are carrying a life, but because of underlying factors driving them to believe that raising that child would be impossible for them. Over 60% of women who abort report that if circumstances were different, they wouldn’t have done so, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
The Reliance Center pregnancy help medical clinic in Lewiston, Idaho, offers expanded services to counter the financial and emotional drivers toward abortion, making women realize a choice for life is possible. Founder and CEO Heather Lawless is passionate about removing any hindrance to a life decision.
“Whatever that is, we break down that barrier,” Lawless said “Wraparound support doesn't just end with diapers and wipes; it goes way deeper than that.”
The Reliance Center seeks to answer any need with a tangible solution.
“If we're going to tell a woman that she should choose life, we have to give her answers to every single reason that she would have an abortion,” Lawless said.
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If she is worried about expenses like paying for rent, internet, utilities, or even a college tuition payment, the center often pays those bills with the center benevolence fund. And once a baby is born, assistance continues to be available. Because a woman can be desperate by the time she calls the Reliance Center with a need, the center does its best to meet that need, rather than referring her elsewhere.
Lawless sees this as a demonstration of the center’s fundamental care for women.
Because housing and income are such frequent needs, Reliance Center opened a maternity home and a coffee shop. Braveheart Coffee, located in the same building as its medical clinic, is an opportunity for “grace-based employment” where women can learn job skills, getting second chances while still learning responsibility.
Sometimes even a mom with a wanted pregnancy can become abortion-minded when the mom is worried about her own health needs. The center offers expanded medical services including prenatal care through 22 weeks gestation. If a mom becomes abortion-minded due to a condition such as severe HG (Hyperemesis Gravidarum), Reliance Center’s clinic offers a unique service of weekly IV vitamin infusions administered by its clinic nurse practitioner.
“I just really wanted to find any reason [for abortion, and counter it],” Lawless said. “I wanted to be able to offer all the care that we could.”
Lawless believes the root of abortion isn’t just dehumanization of the unborn, but the reality that women often don’t sufficiently value themselves and see their own dignity. She reflected on how a world of social media and technology has added additional pressures on today’s young women, where women turn to Instagram and Only Fans for affirmation of their worth.
“She's already thinking that she wants to end the life of her child, but there's a reason behind that,” she said. “The root of it is that she doesn't understand her own value.”
Part of affirming a client’s dignity, even when she has made poor choices, is to extend mercy to whatever circumstance she’s facing.
Tweet This: Part of affirming a client’s dignity, even when she has made poor choices, is to extend mercy to whatever circumstance she’s facing.
For example, Lawless said if she's telling you that she's had an inordinate number of sexual partners in the last week, “You have to be willing to listen to that and not flinch and have her feel like you're not just looking at her thinking that she's awful.”
By being prepared to meet her where she is, messy situations and all, the hope is that the woman realizes that she doesn’t need an abortion. But she does need help. The benevolence fund, coffee shop, and maternity home are the tangible ways that help is delivered.
“In the way that we interact with our patients and our clients - it is really a holistic approach [that] leads with love,” Lawless said.
