This is the Future: Going Mobile

Clarifying Our Focus

In the Fall of 2014 we took a hard look at what we’ve been doing as an organization. We wanted to look at everything from top to bottom to make sure we’re being good stewards of the Care Center. We also wanted to make sure we’re being effective servants of our community!

So after some deliberation, we clarified our focus, ensured that our mission is on track, evaluated our current services, and laid out a plan for the future that will keep the momentum going. If you’d like to see our focus, mission, and services, check out the About page on our website.

Before I go on, though, I will say that we’ve also clarified the reason we do what we do. As a medically and psychologically honest organization, we’re not ashamed to take a stand against abortion. From the ever-increasing hard data (psychological, medical, or otherwise) we believe abortion hurts women’s health.¹ So, we want be a part of the solution in helping women face an unplanned pregnancy apart from the destructive effects abortion can cause in her life. We want to effectively make abortion an unnecessary option. We not only believe this is holistically healthier for our clients, but it’s also empowering for them. Most don’t want an abortion (or perhaps even another abortion), but fear it is their only way forward. We want to show them it’s not their only option and give them tools to rise above their circumstances and face their fears head-on. We also want to help those who have gone through abortion cope with the negative effects by providing abortion recovery.

With the above motivation, and renewed passion for making sure all women are given other options apart from abortion, I want to share with you what we’ve come up with for the future of the Care Center—at least for the next year. You may have already seen it as we’ve put things out on social media, but allow me to give an update with where we are in the process.

Phase 1: The Urgency

We’re gaining support for Phase 1, a mobile ultrasound vehicle. We’ve come to some helpful conclusions for moving forward logistically. But right now, we’re only about 12% funded. We need to pick up the pace! Here are three reasons why the women facing an unplanned pregnancy in our city need us to go mobile now.

1. On average, women facing an unplanned pregnancy will make a decision about the outcome of their pregnancy within nine days of a positive test result. But when they see their child for the first time on an ultrasound, the majority of women and men will choose to carry their child to term, avoiding the risks and consequences that come with abortion. ²

A mobile ultrasound will significantly reduce the time it takes for a client to see and experience that first ultrasound.

2. One of the major reasons we need to go to them is because they’re in a crisis situation. And asking someone in a crisis to come to us for help is like asking a person having a heart attack to drive themselves to the hospital—it’s not helpful! I know that even though my wife and I were planning on having a second child, getting that positive test result still brought a moment of panic. Having not planned ahead would have made it even more overwhelming.

We need to meet people where they are and go to them if we want to really help them face their circumstances. A mobile ultrasound unit makes that possible, seven days a week, if necessary.

3. We’ve also done a lot of research over the past few months, including having many conversations with other pregnancy centers in North Carolina who are using mobile units to serve their clients. All of them have seen a mobile ultrasound unit double the amount of clients they serve. That means they were missing half of their potential clients before a mobile unit was available. We don’t want to miss potential clients. The need is great in Guilford County. Ours accounts for the fifth-highest ranking county for abortion in the state. In 2013 there were 1,712 abortions.³

We don’t want to continue missing those clients who need our help, but have no way to get to us. We want to remove every barrier to their care that we can, beginning with a mobile unit.

The Takeaway

Hopefully you can see the urgency of the need, and how we can meet it at the Care Center. Because our services are free to clients, the only way we can purchase and annually sustain a project like this is if you help.

We need to raise $150k by the end of June to stay on track for our projected launch in the Spring of 2016.

Share the video below with your friends, be our advocate in your sphere of influence, and know that you are also advocating for those clients who need help facing their unplanned pregnancy without fear of abortion.

Interested in giving now? Visit our Give page, or call us at 336-274-4901 to set up a one-time or recurring gift. It’s going to take all of us owning this issue and partnering together to make abortion unnecessary in our city.

Carter Mundy is the Outreach Director at Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center. He enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter, and the family dog. He also loves his church family, Mercy Hill, where he serves as a pastor. You can follow Carter on Facebook, or on Twitter @carter_pm.