More women choosing life for their unborn babies, Ultrasound at CPCs Makes a Difference.(Brief Article)

Abortion depends on a lethal ignorance, ignorance about what abortion is, what it does to the woman, what it does to the baby. One marvelous educational tool now being used to shatter that ignorance at many crisis pregnancy or pregnancy care centers around the country is the ultrasound machine. And now there is evidence from Massachusetts that it's working.

An article appearing in the January 23, 2002, online edition of Massachusetts News1 discussed the outcomes of 371 new clients visiting the AA Woman's Concern (AWC) pregnancy care center in the Boston suburb of Revere between October 2000 and December 2001. We learn that 74% chose to keep their babies after receiving an ultrasound. While some of those were not inclined to have an abortion or were on the fence, the remarkable thing is that 62% of the 198 clients who definitely intended to abort changed their minds after seeing the ultrasound.

While other area clinics have not had their ultrasounds as long or conducted such detailed studies, they also have seen dramatic results. Rob Murphy of the Problem Pregnancy Center of Worcester told MassNews that in December, five out of the seven "abortion vulnerable"2 women who received ultrasound decided not to abort. "There is a real change when a woman sees her baby," Murphy told MassNews. "Even some of the guys have tears well up.... Everything we thought is true. It works."

Rev. John Ensor, founder of AWC, explains why the ultrasound works. "A woman's health and well being is connected to her baby not just by a physical umbilical cord," Rev. Ensor told MassNews. "The ultrasound helps her find the courage to choose life. Then it is the responsibility of the community to come alongside her and offer support."

The pregnancy care centers in Massachusetts are just a few of the scores of centers across the country offering ultrasound and other medical services. Machines cost about $25,000, with centers having to pay about $50,000 a year on top of that to hire or train qualified staff and meet state and federal standards to qualify as a medical center.

Still, Dr. Eric Keroack, the medical director of AWC who conducted the survey at the Revere office, calculates that the cost of convincing an abortion vulnerable woman to choose life for her child is right at about $336.

Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Fl.) and others have proposed a new bill which would authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to give $3 million to centers to purchase ultrasound machines.