‘A heightened sense of urgency’: Pregnancy resource center serves in wake of Roe decision

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had ruled that the U. S. Constitution conferred the right to an abortion since 1973, Sav-A-Life in Vestavia Hills, a pregnancy resource center, is seeing an “uptick” in clients.

Lisa Hogan, executive director of the center, said it sees a lot of clients anyway, but it has had more people walk through the door in the wake of the historic decision. Sav-A-Life’s Vestavia Hills location is at 1480 McGuire Road just off U.S. 31, but the organization also has locations in Fultondale and Crestwood, the latter of which began seeing clients last month.

In the past, women would come and say they weren’t sure if they could go through pregnancy, but they are now coming in and realizing they may not have a choice, Hogan said.

In the state of Alabama, abortion is now illegal, making it a crime for doctors who perform them at any stage of a woman’s pregnancy. Women who receive one will not be punished. The only cases in which the procedure is legal is if a woman's life is threatened or there is a lethal fetal anomaly.

Sav-A-Life is a faith-based center that began in 1980 near the old Ramsey High School in Birmingham and moved to Vestavia in 1997, Hogan said. Being faith-based, Sav-A-Life is “for life,” Hogan said. But regardless of the decision a woman makes, the staff is committed to helping her, Hogan said. The center doesn’t exist just to change a woman’s mind, but to educate her on all of her choices and to provide “help and hope” to help her make an informed decision, Hogan said. Whatever that choice may be, women, and fathers, are “welcome anytime,” Hogan said.

“Our job is not to tell them what to do,” Hogan said.

Many requests come in for the abortion pill, Mifepristone, Hogan said, but that is included under the state’s abortion ban, said Mike Lewis with the Alabama Attorney General’s office.

With Roe overturned, there is a “heightened sense of urgency” due to the “lack of options” for women, Hogan said. The center wants to walk with women in their journey, Hogan said. Many women who come in have had “so much hurt and pain,” Hogan said.

“We only get to see a glimpse of some of that,” Hogan said. “Every decision they make is colored by past decisions or past hurts, or whatever that looks like.”

The center has seen its share of tragedy — one woman had a miscarriage at the center — but has also seen lives transformed, Hogan said.

The center offers a litany of services at their office, which includes both a medical and an educational building. At the medical building, women can receive, for free, a confirmation pregnancy test, ultrasounds and treatment for sexually-transmitted infections and diseases, Hogan said. A confirmation test can be used to receive Medicaid, Hogan said, so it’s highly requested. For those diagnosed with STIs, the center can schedule appointments with a partnering practitioner.

While they don’t provide ongoing care, they will partner with physicians in the area and give recommendations, she said. Under a doctor’s orders, the center can also run tests on hCG levels, an indicator of pregnancy, Hogan said.

While the center used to be considered one of the best-kept secrets in the Birmingham area, Hogan said she’s still not sure people fully grasp all the center offers. In addition to medical services, there are a number of classes for moms and dads, and those who go through the classes earn money to spend at the center’s Stork’s Nest Baby Boutique, which offers diapers, clothes, formula, books, stuffed animals, bottles, bibs and more. All of the items are donated, Hogan said.

Education classes offer help in the way of baby care, child rearing, budgeting, relationships, what to expect during childbirth — which comes with a community-sponsored baby shower for participants — and more, Hogan said.

“We walk alongside any man and woman up until the baby is 3 [years old],” Hogan said.

Raequane Jones leads the fatherhood ministry and the education ministries at Sav-A-Life. Though many men and women come in with unplanned pregnancies, the ministry at the center is “way more” than just making men stay, he said

Jones started in November 2021 and said it’s been a “transformational” time for him.

“A lot of the guys, … they want to be fathers, they want to be, not just fathers, but they want to be good dads,” Jones said. “They just don’t know … what the next step is.”

Hogan said men have an important role to play, as they are often the first person women will go to when they discover they are pregnant.

“Most guys don’t feel like they have a voice,” she said.

Volunteers help organize the store, along with staffing reception desks and helping those who come in, Hogan said. There are 15 Sav-A-Life employees across the three locations.

P.A. Carmichael has been volunteering with Sav-A-Life for six years and works two days a week.

“It just brings me great joy,” Carmichael said.

The center is seeking to increase partnerships with churches and also with housing and job opportunities for clients, Hogan said.

There is often a misconception, Hogan said, that faith-based crisis pregnancy centers only care about the life of the child.

“The reality is mom comes first,” Hogan said. “The baby will follow if we can help mom recognize her value and her worth. Dads too, for that matter.

“Obviously, we are very much for life; that’s a given. But if they recognize their own self-worth, we’ve done a really good job, I think,” Hogan said.

For women who choose to get an abortion, the center also offers post-abortion counseling, which can bring out “interesting” emotions, Hogan said.

“It’s still a grieving process,” Hogan said. “The reality is nobody wants to kill a baby; we don’t use that terminology ever in our counseling or in our coaching efforts. … They are in situations that they feel like there is no other option but to end the pregnancy.”

The center’s goal is to help women slow down and realize they have time to make a decision without rushing into it, Hogan said.

In the month following the Supreme Court’s decision, Hogan said the staff has talked about having compassion and recognizing that people feel betrayed, even if the staff at Sav-A-Life doesn’t share their view on abortion.

As a Christian organization, Sav-A-Life tries to meet people where they are and to determine if they have a relationship with Jesus Christ, Hogan said.

“If they don’t have a faith relationship with Christ, we want to introduce them to that,” Hogan said.

For more information on Sav-A-Life, visit savalife.org.