The Next Woman at Our Door
Kirt Wiggins, President, Caring Network
It’s alarming. There are more and more places in America where a woman can get an abortion. We care about that because an abortion ends a human life. While the ability to abort has been championed in the recent political contests as a “fundamental human right,” we believe that the baby’s right to life must supersede a woman’s right to end that separate and indisputable life.
It is a strong disagreement with tragic consequences. We are happy to join in the fray because human lives hang in the balance.
Helping Women in Crisis
However, at Caring Network our core work is not in the halls of power but at the street level. While we care deeply about achieving policy that will protect all human life, our daily work is to help women who are struggling in the grip of a pregnancy crisis.
We are laser-focused on the next woman at our door who is struggling with an unexpected pregnancy. The “door” may be at one of the seven Caring Network clinics (with five more currently underway), or the phone or digital doorway to our Telecare center. Thousands of women have come through those doors to look for conversations, counsel, and help. The women are very young and older, of every race and ethnicity, single, married, in relationships or beyond them, facing an unexpected pregnancy, or wondering if they are pregnant. Some are women of faith, others are searching, and some are uninterested in spiritual matters. They are varied in about every way, but let’s meet one of these women to represent them. We know her name, but we’ll call her Alana, because she wants and deserves anonymity.
Alana’s Story: Making a Decision for Life
Alana came to Caring Network in turmoil. A home pregnancy test was positive and she was hoping a more professional test would reverse that finding. But the second test confirmed her pregnancy and her anguish. Initially, she liked the idea of being pregnant and saw it as “God’s plan,” and she felt a child would provide her with the emotional comfort that she didn’t currently have. Nonetheless, she felt she needed to have an abortion because of her age and her financial situation.
Alana welcomed information on parenting and abortion, and she agreed to return for an ultrasound appointment. After her first scan, she said she was now undecided, but that she was still leaning more towards abortion. After the appointment, the pregnancy consultant followed up with Alana, who agreed to return to the clinic for a re-scan. After the 2nd ultrasound and speaking with the father, Alana said that she had decided to continue the pregnancy!
Alana affirmed her Christian faith and also the need to draw closer to God as she faced difficult periods in her life.
We praise God for working in Alana’s life and for her decision to have her baby. And we’re highly motivated because while Alana was one of thousands of women who have been at our door and have made the decision to give life to their babies, there are tens of thousands of women a year here in Illinois who are making the choice to abort their babies.
The Most Dangerous Place in Illinois
The most dangerous place in Illinois is in the womb, where more than 90,000 babies were killed through abortion in 2023. That is more than the next ten leading causes of death –heart disease, cancer, accidents, covid, stroke, respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, and influenza–combined (89,602).
While Illinois has the third most abortions in the U.S., it is a national crisis. In the 2024 elections, ballot measures enshrining and extending the right to legal abortion passed in seven states: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York.
As you consider the horrors of rampant abortion in this state and across the country, we encourage you to work for systemic change. At the same time, consider what you can do to help reach the hearts and minds of the women at the epicenter of the crisis, pregnant and desperately searching for answers and direction.
How can we welcome many more women at our doors? How many more lives can be saved? You can help answer these questions by getting involved today.
Help us answer the door.
