I never expected to be one of the more than a million women who seek help from their local pregnancy center each year. I had a successful career in corporate finance and had taken a leap of faith to start my own business and personal finance blog. When I found myself unexpectedly pregnant with twins, the comfort and stability I had become so accustomed to quickly vanished.
My partner and the father of my children was clear that he wanted me to have an abortion. When I refused, he began relentlessly pressuring me and verbally abusing me with single-mom stereotypes. He said I would never succeed as a mom and that I was selfish for wanting to bring our children into the world. I truly wanted to have my babies, but my current circumstances were overwhelming. I was afraid of what being a single mom would mean for my finances and goals, and how I both would raise my children and pursue my dreams as a single mom. I didn’t see a path forward. I started to believe that all those stereotypes were true and that abortion really was my only option.
Around three months pregnant, I found myself alone, in my OBGYN’s office crying and overwhelmed. The sonographer at that appointment saw my despair and suggested I call a local pregnancy center. She told me that they had diapers, wipes, formula, and free counseling. This knowledge gave me hope that I wasn’t alone and that there was emotional and financial support available. I took her advice and set up an appointment at my local center. I needed a miracle, and I needed someone to tell me that I could succeed as a single mom. I received both at the pregnancy center. What sticks out to me most about that first visit was the love, encouragement, and safety I felt. Very few people in my personal life, at the time, knew what I was going through, so it was important to have a place and people to cry with during one of the most difficult times of my life.
The pregnancy center helped me find the courage to continue the pregnancy I desperately wanted, despite the pressure to make a different decision. With the center’s support, I was able to tune out the pressure from my partner and finally share with my family that I was pregnant and planning to parent my twins.
The center met my emotional needs when I was at my most vulnerable, but they didn’t stop there. I had immediate financial needs that had to be addressed before I could bring home two babies. With every ounce of financial acumen I could muster, I poured over my budget, expenses, and anticipated costs to parent my children. There was no way that the income from my small business would support my growing family.
The pregnancy center committed to walking alongside of me to meet these needs. I enrolled in the center’s parenting program, where I received free parenting classes, diapers, wipes, baby food, and baby equipment while I was learning how to be a new mom.
The center also connected me with their vast network of community providers. Through these referrals, I was able to take a free baby safety class and earn two free car seats. These baby items relieved a huge financial stressor and helped give me the margin I needed in my budget. In that first year after the twins were born, I continued to receive support from the center anytime I needed it.
The center that served me is one vital part of a vast network of pregnancy centers around the country. Over time, these providers have pooled their resources to meet women where they are from pregnancy through parenting and beyond. Last year alone, pregnancy centers provided services valued over $452 million in medical care, baby items, and education services to moms and families. These centers gave out more than $116 million in crucial material goods like the diapers, wipes, and car seats all free of charge.
If pregnancy centers cease to exist or are prohibited from carrying out their charitable mission, who will step in to fill the gap and serve women in need? Their reach in nearly every community and in every state provides hope and a crucial lifeline.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for an important case concerning pregnancy centers, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin. Their decision will determine whether centers like the one that helped me can continue to serve women at no charge and free from government intimidation or discrimination. I hope that the court will see how unnecessary government attacks on pregnancy centers ultimately hurt women who depend on them for survival.
Pregnancy centers empower women to make life-affirming decisions, not through pressure, but through compassion and practical help. Without my local pregnancy center, I don’t know where I would be today. My twins and I are living, breathing testaments to the life-affirming help pregnancy centers provide.
Aisha Taylor is an Ohio mom of twins and the author of Navigating the “Impossible”: A Survival Guide for Single Moms from Pregnancy Through the First Year of Motherhood.
