Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

ANDERSON: Here’s Why We Should Be Protecting Pregnancy Centers From Extremists

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For years the pro-life movement has had two arms: The political effort, which focuses on policies and laws to protect the unborn. And the practical effort, which focuses on healthcare, mercy and compassion to vulnerable pregnant women and new mothers through pregnancy resource centers.

Until now, pregnancy resource centers received less media attention than political pro-life groups, but they are critical in our campaign to protect mothers and children from the ravages of the abortion industry. But don’t take it from me — take it from the Left.

Left-wing extremists have begun a terrorist campaign to destroy pregnancy resource centers and intimidate their staff. Organized into new groups called “Jane’s Revenge” and the appropriately named “Anti Hope Brigade,” they have begun firebombing resource centers and defacing them with graffiti. Over 40 clinics have been attacked since the leaked Dobbs decision on May 2. One disturbing slogan, seen spray painted on the side of a pro-life charity, was “if abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either.”

To understand why an organized terrorist campaign would focus on nonprofit healthcare providers, it’s important to understand exactly what pregnancy resource centers are and how they bolster the pro-life movement.

Pregnancy resource centers are at the frontlines of the mission to defend life. The centers provide free medical services and counseling to women who are caught in the crossfire between life and abortion. These women are often scared, and they have been encouraged to kill their unborn children by Planned Parenthood or other pro-abortion organizations spreading propaganda.

Pregnancy resource centers step into the breach, offering compassionate care to women who have previously only heard lies that they can’t raise their baby and that their baby is just simply a “clump of cells.”

Patiently and lovingly, pregnancy resource centers share the truth about that baby, the truth about life, and wrap their arms of support around the new mother and father when possible. It’s messy, it’s hard and it is not for the faint of heart. The impact is significant. Pro-life pregnancy resource centers have saved over 800,000 lives since 2016.

I’ve seen it personally my entire adult life. My mother is the president of her local pregnancy resource center and has made it her mission to care for the women who come to her. She has shared countless stories of abortion-minded women walking into a center determined to abort their baby and walking out with support, a plan, and a new mindset — to choose life.

Centers like my mom’s provide free prenatal care, parenting classes, baby supplies, referrals for medical and legal services, and, when necessary, post-abortion counseling.

One of the most powerful tools of these centers is science-based information: ultrasounds. The ultrasound is concrete, science-based evidence that affirms the life of the preborn and empowers mothers to keep their children.

That’s what makes pregnancy resource centers a powerful tool in the fight against the abortion industry: they win hearts and minds. This kind of holistic care destroys the narrative that the pro-life movement only cares about children up until birth. And that’s what the Left cannot stand.

This kind of love and sacrifice is anathema to the straw man the Left has constructed about the pro-life movement. They recognize its power — that is why the most radical elements of their movement are bent on destroying it.

It’s time for Americans to rally around pregnancy resource centers. Individuals and communities should donate to their local center and volunteer to protect it. Governors and state district attorneys should assign law enforcement to protect the centers and vigorously prosecute vandals and arsonists. Attorney General Merrick Garland must recognize Jane’s Revenge as a domestic terror organization and prosecute it as such. And going forward, political leaders at every level should support pregnancy centers, following the lead of former President Donald Trump, who made pregnancy clinics like the Obria Group eligible for Title X money under the Department of Health and Human Services.

Great Americans are under attack, but we should take this as a sign of encouragement. Life is winning in America.

Jessica Anderson is Executive Director of Heritage Action for America.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.