Critics of the pregnancy help movement often argue that after‑abortion healing is unnecessary because existing research frequently reports no consistent association between abortion and mental health concerns. Further, critics claim that health intervention post-abortion is not broadly necessary since the distress is likely attributable to other indicators including stigma and pre-existing risk factors.
Yet every day across the country and around the world quiet and faithful after-abortion care takes place.
After-abortion support happens in churches, in small groups, and in private conversations. After-abortion care helpers offer support by sitting with those who are grieving, praying with them, and walking with them as they move toward restoration.
Much of this work happens outside the formal structure of pregnancy help organizations. Because of this, the impact is significant but unmeasured.
In a culture shaped by scrutiny and accountability, what remains unmeasured is the risk of being misunderstood or dismissed.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
A growing movement with a missing piece
Although after-abortion ministry is expanding, the movement struggles to answer key questions that matter to donors, researchers, and within public conversations:
- How many people are offering after-abortion care today?
- How many women and men are actively walking through healing?
- How many grievers complete Bible studies, support groups, or follow-up programs?
- Do these programs offer online or in-person care?
- How many people who received faith-based after-abortion care chose not to have another abortion?
The truth is, we do not know these numbers. The data is, at best, scattered. When we cannot answer these questions, credibility suffers. The data gap stalls research, shrinks funding, blocks collaboration, and keeps us from showing the world the fullness of God's restoring work. This challenge does not reflect a lack of concern, but a lack of shared measurement.
Why data matters
Stories of healing will always move hearts. Data, however, moves institutions.
In a post‑Roe culture, policymakers, media, and the public routinely scrutinize the work of pregnancy help organizations. Demonstrating measurable outcomes strengthens the movement's ability to defend its work and extend its reach.
Good data helps answer important questions: Are people truly healing? Which supports are most effective? Where are gaps in care? How can ministries grow with wisdom and sustainability?
Good data brings clarity about what life-affirming care looks like long after a pregnancy decision.
Tweet This: Good data brings clarity about what life-affirming care looks like long after a pregnancy decision.
Measuring healing with greater clarity
A recent collaboration within the national group, the Abortion Recovery Coalition (ARC), offers a hopeful step forward.
A small working group, supported by research professionals, has developed a shared method for measuring participant outcomes in biblically based abortion recovery programs.
The framework focuses on four key client-care areas:
- Self-worth
- Depression and anxiety
- Abortion-related trauma
- Spiritual well-being
Using a simple pre- and post-survey, the goal is to collectively capture meaningful life-changes over time. Shared measurement, documented with integrity, strengthens the quality of ministry work, provides a common language that outside audiences can understand, and helps the movement gain valuable insight, advance influence, and expand Kingdom impact.
The challenge and the opportunity
For many after-abortion care helpers, the challenge is not a lack of willingness to collaborate but a lack of capacity. Integrating shared systems, gathering reliable data, and building new support pathways require time and personnel that many in ministry simply do not have, highlighting the need for tools and structures that make this work both possible and sustainable.
Why shared aggregate data matters to promote a culture of life
Scripture calls us to remember and proclaim God's works. Psalm 105:1 says, "Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name, make known among the nations what he has done." Good data gathered as an act of worship helps all of us tell a more complete, more “true” and more powerful story of how God works in and through our efforts. Good data offers tangible evidence of God making all things, all lives, new. It is, in fact, a testament to His goodness.
Stepping forward
If you serve in after-abortion healing in any capacity, we invite you to join this collective effort by integrating shared tools, participating in the Abortion Recovery Coalition impact survey, and helping gather the data that tells the truth about God's restoring work.
Your voice, your ministry, and your willingness to link arms with others directly shape the stories we can tell. Together, we can ensure that the quiet work happening in small corners around the world is finally seen, honored, and strengthened for generations to come.
*For more information on the Abortion Recovery Coalition impact survey email Dr. Lewis at
Editor’s note: Tricia Lewis, Ph.D., is a former pregnancy clinic CEO, co-founder of Reproductive Loss Network, and co-founder of MyCareTrac, an online software created to support those providing after-abortion care. She will present Filling the CareGap: Ultrasound to ER*+ with Tanya Flores at the forthcoming Heartbeat International Annual Pregnancy Help Conference. Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News. This article is a Pregnancy Help News original.
