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1st Way: Hope to women in crisis
By Joyce Coronel, news@catholicsun.org
November 20, 2008
SCOTTSDALE — Nearly 500 people gathered in support of 1st Way Pregnancy Center’s annual “Can I Live” banquet, a fundraiser for the pro-life clinic credited with saving lives and giving hope to thousands of women each year.
Michelle Watts, a nurse midwife who works as a volunteer at the center, stood near a table that displayed fetal models and ultrasound images of unborn babies Nov. 8 at Chaparral Inn Suites. Watts acts as a counselor and teaches childbirth and breastfeeding classes to women who seek assistance from 1st Way.
“The classes are free and there is standing room only,” Watts said. At the end of class, women receive baby clothes and diapers.
“We do free pregnancy testing for anybody at risk for an abortion and if they’re far enough along, we offer them an ultrasound. It really makes a difference,” Watts said. “It all jells at that moment when they see and hear the baby’s heartbeat.”
With three paid staff members and more than 40 volunteers, the center is able to provide crisis pregnancy counseling, post-abortion counseling, education and support.
Dr. William Chavira, medical director of the clinic, had words of encouragement for pro-lifers disappointed with the Nov. 6 election results.
“We come together as Americans now, united for a common cause, recognizing that there is much work to do,” Chavira said. “We cannot depend on our government for truth, but we must be the bearers of truth and the light in this darkness.”
Laurie Pittsenbarger, a nurse at 1st Way, reiterated the defining moment many women at the clinic experience when they behold the image of their baby through ultrasound. It’s something the clinic hopes to bring to other women around the Valley who may be considering an abortion.
Three years ago, when 1st Way first started offering ultrasounds, they performed 58 during the course of the year. By last October, they were seeing nearly twice as many women and performed more than 50 in just one month.
Pittsenbarger said sidewalk counselors who attempt to persuade women not to go through with abortions were requesting ultrasound examinations for those whom they help, too. About 95 percent of women who see the image of their unborn baby don’t have the heart to go through with an abortion, she said.
That’s where 1st Way’s new Hope Mobile Ultrasound Unit comes into play. With a van at the ready and the donation by General Electric of two brand new ultrasound machines, 1st Way plans to station the unit near abortion clinics around the Valley beginning Dec. 2.
Director Allen said the mobile unit is the solution to the Valley’s need for more pregnancy clinics.
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