Christian-based crisis pregnancy center opens in Florence
FLORENCE — After Bethany Christian Services adoption agency in Florence closed last year, community members realized there was a real void and need for those services in the Pee Dee.
A steering committee got together and formed a board of directors to open the A Choice 2 M8k crisis pregnancy care center in Florence in October.
The goal, executive director Carla Wright said, is to counsel and educate women who are in crisis pregnancy situations so they can make the right decision for themselves.
“We sit down and discuss all their options — to abort, to adopt or for parenting,” she said.
Some of the free and confidential services the center offers are pregnancy testing, pregnancy counseling, a 24-hour crisis hotline, parenting classes, adoption information and distribute baby and maternity items to women and families that are in need.
“We’re the exact opposite of Planned Parenthood,” Wright said.
The center is Christian-based and, although they do not persuade women to choose life, the goal of the center is to provide women with all the knowledge they need to make an informed decision.
“And hopefully after all that we can make a choice for life,” Wright said.
They also counsel abstinence to someone if she isn’t married and do not distribute birth control.
In the month and a half A Choice 2 M8k has been opened, it has fielded about 30 calls and have had more than a dozen women visit their center at 1307 B Broughton Blvd.
“It’s a rare thing. We see clients from indigent and poor to a middle, upper class college student,” Wright said.
Although women of all ages can experience an unplanned or crisis pregnancy, teen pregnancy is a major concern for this area of the state, according to the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The most recent data compiled in 2006 shows three Pee Dee counties — Marion, Dillon and Chesterfield — are among the top 10 in the state for pregnancy rates among girls ages 10 to 19.
In addition to their own services, the center is building partnerships with local adoption agencies, shelters and doctor’s offices to offer more resources to clients, Wright said.
“It’s really about her health and the long-term effect — emotional, physical and spiritual,” Wright said.
This center is affiliated with Care Net, a Christian-based network of more than 1,100 crisis pregnancy centers across the country.
A Choice 2 M8k is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations of funds and new or used baby and maternity items, as well as volunteers.
To learn more about A Choice 2 M8k crisis pregnancy care center, call (843) 669-HOPE or visit its Web site, http://www.achoice2m8k.com.
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Reader Reactions
Zman I agree with you. The decision for a couple to have children should not be left up to the government. But the taxpayers are fed up with all of the teens that get pregnant and depend on the government to take care of them and their baby because the baby daddy is not around! He never seems to be around! I think that sex education is taught but the teens are just not listening! They don’t want to listen. They are just looking for a good time and do not have the good sense to think beyond a good time. Then a teen becomes pregnant and depends on the taxpayers for support of her and her baby. The baby grows up in poverty and running the streets. I have seen some of these teens at the grocery store that are carrying babies and they don’t look over 13 years of age. But they are wearing the name brand jeans, have the latest hair styles and wearing their long fingernails! Some of these girls look like teenage prostitutes! Then they drive away in the latest version of the SUV’s or a sports car.
Government MANDATED birth control!!!
You must take a test showing you can physically, mentally, and financially provide for a child before you are allowed to have one.
If the government is gonna tell me I have to wear a seatbelt and that I cannot talk on my cell phone while driving, they might as well regulate EVERYTHING else in my life.
Many of them absolutely know what they are doing. No babies and they will not qualify for my wonderful list of freebie, gobmint give aways. Don’t expect granny to persuade them because all too often that’s how THEY got their free stuff. Funny thing though, many of these folks dress in expensive cloths and drive nice cars and SUV’s. I bet most have wide screen TV’s, XBox’s, thousands of dollars of DVD’s, surround sound and other luxuries that many hard working taxpayers can not afford because they have a thing called a ‘budget’.
It is too bad that we taxpayers refuse to provide sex education in schools and free condoms. We keep them ignorant about their reproductive systems and methods to protect themselves by claiming that providing this information will start sexual activity.
Oh, but after she’s pregnant, we can feel good about ourselves by providing counseling to encourage her to keep her baby. That way we can parrot all of the things that Zman complains about.
Peachtree, some Non-profits do receive grants from City, States and the Federal Government, they also receive money from Charitable organizations like United Way. So some of the money could very well be tax dollars, I do not know in this case. Being Non-Profit just regulates how you can spend the money, not where it comes from. Also being a Non-Profit is very misleading, a Non-profit can pay its workers huge salaries and Bonuses that eat up almost all of the income. So while the Business shows no Profit, some people that run them make a very good profit. I would suggest looking at the Salaries of top tier people in the Red Cross and Goodwill.
Taxpayers foot the bill by providing Section 8 housing, food stamps, SSI payments, medicaid, free pre-school daycare, free grammar school breakfast, free school lunches, free laptops, free college grants and any other thing under the sun that the rest of us poor working slobs have to work and pay for. All the while the baby daddy keeps mating with as many as he can before taxpayer provided law enforcement catch him after some horrendous crime. Then taxpayer funded prison systems house these guys and provide three hots and a cot plus ample gym equipment so these guys can bulk up to better terrorize the population after they are ‘rehabilitated’. What’s really frustrating is somehow the honest, hardworking citizens who have children only after they know that they can provide for them are used as the scapegoats in this Great Society fraud that has brought this country and eventually the entire free world to its knees.
A minor cold can be handled but President Johnson could not have forseen a virtual pandemic of deadly double pnuemonia.
The following sentence makes no sense: When having sex, use abstinence to keep from getting pregnant. Abstinence is the opposite of sex and not birth control. God gave us the knowledge but everyone has made mistakes. Let he without sin…. Not everyone with unwanted pregnancies have unprotected sex. Anyway, this place is a non-profit organization so NO TAXPAYER MONEY IS BEING USED!
I disagree Peachtree. Absistenance means not having sex and that means not having sex! If these women want to have sex - then they should be accountable about preventing a pregenancy and so should their sexual partner. Both of the people should be held accountable. The taxpayers and the grands should not have to pick up the tab because these womaen made a mistake! You are absolutely right - Jesus was perfect. But God did give us the knowledge of deciding what is right and what is wrong! If these women want to have sex without protection then they are ignorant! Their partners are ignorant also. Today an unwanted pregnancy is just stupid! Grandparents shoud not be expected to raise these chilren. Taxpayers should not be paying for these children because a woman and a man had unprotected sex!
There is no birth control that is 100 percent and abstinence is not birth control. Only Jesus was perfect so people will make mistakes from unplanned pregnancy to bad checks. Let’s just abandon everyone that makes a mistake…just lock up anyone that breaks the law forever and turn our backs on unwed/teen mothers.
And this agency says that it is non-profit and based on donations. No taxpayer money is used for its services.
If we could just invent a pill for the GUYS to take, that would help. They are the one getting the girls pregnant. Why aren’t all the guys using condoms? It always falls on the women.
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