The Pro-Life Movement’s Commitment to Mothers and Children After Birth
Since the Pro-Life movement is so focused on getting the child to birth, it might seem at first glance that pro-life people do not care for mothers and children after birth. However, the truth is that they overwhelmingly support mothers and children after birth with an incredible amount of free services, advice, and equipment to help raise children. The pro-life movement has built an extensive network of support that extends far beyond pregnancy, providing comprehensive care for families throughout the child-rearing years.
As we will see in the following sections, pro-lifers do support women and children, before and after birth. The data reveals that conservatives gave an average of four times as much to charity as did liberals, and gave more to every type of cause and charity: health charities, education organizations, international aid groups, and human welfare agencies.
Pregnancy Resource Centers: A Foundation of Support
The backbone of post-birth support comes from pregnancy resource centers, which operate according to the highest standards of care and integrity. These centers provide assistance to nearly 2 million clients each year, offering services that extend well beyond pregnancy confirmation.
More than 2,700 pro-life pregnancy centers across the United States provide comprehensive support including medical care, education, mentoring, and material support such as diapers, car seats, and clothing. These centers are staffed by nearly 15,000 staff members and almost 54,000 volunteers, including 10,200 licensed medical professionals.
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The Scope of Post-Birth Material Support
The material assistance provided by these centers is staggering. In 2022 alone, pregnancy resource centers provided nearly $367.9 million worth of life-affirming pregnancy services and material goods to clients and their families. This represents a more than one-third increase—over $100 million—higher than the total value provided in 2019.
The breakdown of services includes nearly $176 million in free medical services, more than $113.3 million in free education and support services, and more than $78.5 million worth of material resource items. These centers experienced a 194% increase in material services and baby items delivered to families between 2019 and 2022.
Practical Post-Birth Support Services
Pregnancy resource centers offer comprehensive practical support that makes a real difference in families’ lives. Support services can include baby supplies like diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, baby clothes, layettes, blankets, toys, baby furniture, Pack ‘n Plays, strollers, and other baby-related items. It can also include maternity clothes for the mother.
Many centers operate parenting education programs that teach healthy pregnancy practices, what to expect in labor and delivery, how to care for a newborn, and general parenting skills. These programs often feature incentive systems where parents earn points called “Baby Bucks” which can be spent in clothing rooms to obtain items such as diapers, formula, clothing, baby supplies and baby equipment. New car seats and cribs are also available in order to provide a safe place for babies to travel and sleep.
Maternity Homes: Comprehensive Housing and Life Skills Support
The expansion of maternity homes represents another crucial component of pro-life support. There are now more than 450 maternity homes in the U.S., with a 23% growth since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson.
These homes provide far more than temporary housing. Mary’s Shelter in Fredericksburg has grown over 18 years to encompass more than 30 bedrooms across six houses and four apartments. They welcome women with multiple children, and despite their religious roots, there are no religious prerequisites for residency.
Real Success Stories from Maternity Homes
The impact of these homes is demonstrated through countless success stories. Danielle Nicholson shared her experience of living at Paul Stefan for nearly five years when residents were housed in different locations. Now a success story, she is raising a child who is about to enter sixth grade.cnn
Meryem Bakache, who recently arrived from Morocco and spoke little English, contemplated abortion before being referred to Mary’s Shelter. “When I saw my baby, everything changed,” she said. The staff helped her find housing and support, demonstrating the comprehensive care these homes provide.cnn
Major Pro-Life Organizations’ Financial Commitment
Knights of Columbus Support
The Knights of Columbus demonstrates extraordinary commitment to supporting mothers and children after birth. In 2023, Knights donated $5.7 million and 342,000 volunteer hours to support women and their children through cash donations and community service activities such as baby and maternity item drives.
Their Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) initiative focuses specifically on supporting pregnant women, mothers, and their children by serving pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes. In 2021, Knights donated $4.6 million and 469,000 volunteer hours to support these centers.gakofc
Through their Ultrasound Initiative, the Order donated $5.6 million to centers for the purchase of 163 ultrasound machines in 2021—bringing its total donations since 2009 to more than 1,550 machines valued at over $75 million.
Christian Merchant Card Services
Pro Life Payments is the for-profit arm of the pro-life movement. Pro-Life Payments is reducing abortion in America by turning customer financial transactions into pro-life funding. We give 15% of gross revenue to Pro-Life organizations. Payments is transitioning donation platforms, credit card processing and peer to peer payments into a funding engine for the pro-life community. Pro-Life Payments is providing customers with the alternative to the abortion-supporting financial institutions and payment processors they are supporting today.
Charitable Fund Impact
The Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund has exceeded $100 million in awards given since the project was founded five years ago. The fund has distributed over 11,000 grants to more than 2,000 organizations across North America, Europe, and Asia, supporting causes including “higher education, evangelization, religious formation, and pro-life apostolates”.
National Networks of Support
Heartbeat International’s Global Reach
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. (1971), and it is now the most expansive network in the world. The organization has over 3,700 affiliated pregnancy help locations—including pregnancy help medical clinics (with ultrasound), resource centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies—in more than 70 countries around the world.
Care Net’s Comprehensive Network
Care Net supports a network of more than 1,200 affiliated pregnancy centers, providing training and resources for centers to serve their communities with excellence. These centers offer pregnancy decision coaching by trained advocates, free pregnancy tests, information about pregnancy options, material resources, fatherhood training and family educational resources, and post-decision support (including parenting education and abortion recovery groups).
Church-Based Support Programs
Embrace Grace: Church Community Support
Embrace Grace is a national ministry designed to make sure that “every young woman who is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy has a church family to go to for spiritual, emotional and physical support”. The ministry equips local churches to host 12-week-long support groups where women can come who are experiencing the challenges of being single mothers can come for help and emotional support.
These support groups provide not just emotional support but practical assistance. Every attendee receives a free baby shower with brand-new baby items that you will need. The program recognizes that “Many of the women when they first come to us are in desperate need of community. They feel very lonely. They feel very isolated”.
Specialized Medical and Mental Health Support
Perinatal Mental Health Programs
Recognizing the comprehensive needs of mothers, the pro-life movement has expanded to include specialized mental health support. The Postpartum Den offers a critically important Mother and Baby Program, one of the few specialized intensive outpatient programs in the country for women experiencing significant symptoms of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
This program serves mothers up to two years postpartum and allows mothers to bring their infants up to 9 months. This maintains the mother-baby bond but while reducing this common barrier to treatment.
Comprehensive Healthcare Services
Many pregnancy centers have expanded their medical services to provide ongoing healthcare. The percentage of pregnancy centers offering medical services of all kinds has increased between 2019 and 2022, with the number of paid medical staff for pregnancy centers increased by 17.9% between 2019 and 2022.
Adoption Services and Support
The pro-life movement strongly supports adoption as a loving alternative. Lifeline Children’s Services works with missional families who are committed to loving a child and leading that child to know and follow Jesus. They work with families through the process to be well equipped for the journey of adopting and to see open adoption not as a threat but rather as an opportunity to extend the influence of the gospel to their child’s birth parents.
The organization provides comprehensive support including individual (child, teen & adult), marriage, and family therapy to those pre-and post-adoption or currently with a foster placement.
Evidence of Lives Saved and Transformed
The statistical evidence of the pro-life movement’s impact is overwhelming. More than 800,000 human lives have been saved through the community-based care of pro-life pregnancy centers since 2016. PreBorn! reports 337,000+ babies saved and 86,000+ commitments to Christ through their network clinics.
Growing Impact Post-Dobbs
Since the Dobbs decision, the expansion of services has accelerated dramatically. The percentage of pregnancy resource centers around the country that provide abortion pill reversal (APR) therapy has more than doubled from 11 to address the growing need for comprehensive care.
Personal Testimonies of Transformation
Real Stories of Support
The true measure of the pro-life movement’s commitment comes through personal testimonies. Alana Jenkins, a mother of five, said she “was greeted with nothing but love” from the staff at Life First and that it was “amazing” to see where her experience at the center “led to”.
Comprehensive Family Support
The support extends to addressing complex family situations. Through Catholic Charities, Bea and her husband were connected with local community organizations that provided pregnancy resources and household necessities. The organization provided baby clothes, a stroller, and other supplies to families in need.
Financial Transparency and Community Support
The financial commitment of the pro-life movement demonstrates genuine care for families after birth. Pregnancy centers have given over $350 million in care to women and families in just the past year. This care is provided typically at no or very low cost to enable women to both give birth to their children and pursue their life goals.
Community Investment
These numbers speak to why 91% of Americans support pregnancy centers, according to a 2023 Knights of Columbus–Marist Poll. The broad community support demonstrates widespread recognition of the valuable services these centers provide to families.
Addressing the “Pro-Birth” Criticism
The evidence overwhelmingly contradicts the “pro-birth, not pro-life” criticism. Wilson argues that maternity homes are a response to this criticism: “They counter the narrative we only about the in the”. The comprehensive network of support—from pregnancy through child-rearing years—demonstrates a holistic commitment to supporting both mothers and children.
The pro-life movement has created an unprecedented network of support that extends far beyond pregnancy, providing comprehensive care, material assistance, medical services, mental health support, education, and community connections. With nearly $400 million in annual services, over 800,000 lives saved, and millions of hours of volunteer support, the movement demonstrates an unwavering commitment to supporting mothers and children throughout their lives. The evidence clearly shows that pro-life advocates are not merely “pro-birth” but genuinely committed to supporting families from conception through childhood and beyond.