Over the past five years, Alabama saw an estimated 60% increase in crisis pregnancy center openings.
Pregnancy centers, sometimes known as crisis pregnancy or resource centers, do not refer clients to other organizations for abortions, even in states where abortions are accessible. By nature this makes their services controversial to some, though they’re most widely known and used for free pregnancy testing and sonograms.
But over time, especially in states where abortion is restricted, these pregnancy centers have grown into more holistic, inclusive organizations, aiming to serve women during and after pregnancy, as well as her child (if she chooses to parent), and members of her support system.
Marty Carrell, CEO of Women’s Resource Center with multiple locations across southwestern Alabama, told IW Features that adding more services for clients since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has been absolutely essential to their mission.
“We can’t just value life. We have to empower people; we have to give them the tools that they need in order to produce a thriving family,” Carrell said. “If you want a thriving community, you’ve got to have a thriving family.”
Carrell has directed these agencies for nearly a decade, and supervises a staff of volunteers, sonographers, medical professionals, donors, board members, and community partners. Since 2022, her centers have tried to address client needs directly.
Most of the time, those needs are material. The majority of Alabama’s pregnancy centers offer necessary items to moms free of charge, like cribs, clothing, strollers, and diapers and wipes. These items are usually offered in a boutique-style setting, where moms can attend parenting classes for points, and those points add up to what they can “purchase.”
One mom, Kiarra, said that her family wasn’t supportive when she decided to keep her baby. Her local pregnancy center in central Alabama stepped in, giving her everything that she needed to care for her now three-year-old son.
“Shopping in the boutique made me more emotional than I thought it would,” she said. “It made me feel like I was like any other mom.”
Kiarra said she never had to buy a single item for her baby.
Though pregnancy center clients need these accessories, their mental and physical health is just as crucial to their overall well-being. Carrell said that in the last four years, these services have expanded even further.
“We’re taking it to a whole other level,” she said.
Under Carrell’s direction, Women’s Resource Center has contracted with local therapists to provide counseling services to clients, and counseling for post-abortive women. Services are available for dads as well.
Carrell said she saw many clients struggling in abusive relationships or with addiction, and knew counseling had to be added to their list of priorities. “It starts with a healthy mom,” she said.
Women’s Resource Center offers STI and STD screenings and has in-house nurse practitioners as well. They also have partnerships with local OB/GYNs they can refer clients to, if necessary.
Learning the community’s specific needs and addressing those head-on is one of Carrell’s most effective ways of adding services to their roster. In one instance, she noticed that more and more babies in the area were born with low birth weight, and knowing both Alabama’s dire infant and maternal mortality rates, collaborated with medical professionals in the area to provide a casual weekly discussion group to educate moms on the importance of regular medical care.
Carrell also expressed that offering abortion pill reversal and post-abortion assistance has been a key health and safety feature for them, since, post-Roe, pills are usually procured online or from unknown sources without an understanding of the immediate physical effects or consequences.
Carrell’s five-year plan for the pregnancy centers she oversees is wide in scope and ambition. Her agency recently purchased a facility which, once renovated, will host health and fitness classes for moms, as well as cooking classes and a community garden for families. Her advocacy extends to schools as well, where volunteers offer peer education on sexual risk avoidance and healthy relationship dynamics beginning in elementary school.
And although their services have expanded, Carrell said the mission of her organization is the same as it’s always been.
“If you believe in something, you’re going to stick with it, no matter what,” she said.
