Saving babies, one at a time: pro-life pregnancy resource centers across this country are using the latest technology in the struggle to save babies.

An unmarried couple in their late teens received a "positive" result on an over-the-counter pregnancy test. Feeling overwhelmed and frightened about the future, instead of seeking counsel from family members or friends, they called a local pregnancy resource center, formed to suggest alternatives to abortion. The counselor who spoke to them instantly ascertained that they were determinedly pro-abortion minded. She encouraged them to come in for a personal counseling session, offering further info and options. She also immediately contacted the medical director of the center and arranged for the director to meet the couple after regular hours.

Dr. Amy Schueckler, the medical director of this crisis pregnancy center (often termed pregnancy resource center), was just as determined to protect the innocent and vulnerable little life at the center of the crisis, and she automatically slipped into her prayer-warrior mode. The couple agreed to have her perform an ultrasound.

But to everyone's astonishment and dismay, the computer screen showed no viable, moving baby to warm their hearts. The sac was empty, indicating a blighted ovum, meaning the baby had not developed properly and died at an early stage. Suddenly, for this couple, the desire to rid themselves of the bothersome pregnancy became a lesson in just how precious life is. They now felt as though an opportunity had been stolen from them.

From years of pro-life counseling, Dr. Schueckler is experienced in bringing forth core values in a deeply caring and sympathetic way. She is well prepared to aid a mother-to-be in making decisions that will have consequences for the rest of her life--physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She knows, too, how easy it is for many newly pregnant women to access one of the over 800 "women's reproductive health centers" operated by Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. So she considers every client who walks into the A&A Alexandrina Center of Green Bay, Wisconsin, as being "sent from God." And this time she eagerly enlisted the help of the newest tool acquired by the center, an ultrasound machine. Recent technological and scientific advances have made these ultrasound units smaller and more affordable, and they are finding their way into many of the flourishing pro-life pregnancy centers across the nation. In the ongoing struggle for life, they help dispel the corrupt notion that a fetus is just a blob of tissue.

Since the Supreme Court decreed legality for surgical abortions in Roe v. Wade in 1973, dedicated pro-life activists have been on the cutting edge both ethically and technically in the fight for the lives of the unborn, and they have spared many a woman the psychological trauma that accompanies an abortion. Also, the pro-life movement has become both legally and organizationally more savvy these days. For example, the American Life League (ALL), National Institute of Family & Life Advocates (NIFLA), Heartbeat International, and Care Net have brought approximately 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers under their collective aegis and provided them with much-needed legal advice, medical training, and professional support--areas in which they might otherwise be lacking expertise.

Now, both small-town and large-city pregnancy centers are seeing an increase in the total number of pregnant women they see because they are able to attract more clients with the new diagnostic procedures. When prospective parents actually see and hear their babies via the ultrasound technology, they more readily decide against terminating their unborn child's life. Dr. Schueckler believes that because of a "loud media and professional bias, many are misled," and have a difficult time realizing that they carry within them not a blob of tissue but an unborn baby. The incontrovertible proof is now before their very eyes on the computer monitor--their baby, obviously human and obviously alive.

Heartbeat International claims that for some of their centers 7580 percent of those considering abortion will choose life after seeing their babies and hearing their babies' heartbeats via ultrasound. Prior to ultrasound availability, precise numbers of those who had chosen to terminate their unborn child even after receiving pro-life constructive education are difficult to obtain. Generally, the number is gauged at about 50 percent. Virginia Cline of Heartbeat International noted, "When it comes to women considering abortion, ultrasound technology allows pregnancy resource centers to most likely double the number of women counseled who choose life for their unborn instead of going through with their abortion plan." NIFLA has reported that some of their centers have experienced a 200-percent increase in women who choose to carry their babies to term.

Deborah Wood, CEO of Asheville Pregnancy Support Services in Asheville, North Carolina, reported that in the two months since acquiring their ultrasound unit, five women who were abortion-minded changed their minds after seeing the ultrasound images. Six babies were saved as one woman was carrying twins. Staff members recount stories of a sort of "connection" when mothers see the images. Nurse Joyce Wilson speaks of these connections and bonds, saying, "You could just see it. One girl got off the table and said, 'That's my baby.'"

In Green Bay, Dr. Schueckler and the staff at A&A A1exandrina Center recorded over 1,300 clients in 2006, which was an increase of over 400 from the previous year. She relates that "about 10 percent of those clients were considering abortion and of those about two-thirds chose life." Dr. Schueckler is looking for at least a slight increase in the number of overall clients seen because of the addition of the ultrasound unit. However, she is cautious about predicting higher numbers of those saving their babies based solely on viewing ultrasound images. She maintains that for most of the clients who are verbal communicators, words still work best. For the more reticent or private individuals, the images have more of an impact.

Chris Slattery of New York City expects to see a dramatic increase in changing the hearts and minds of new clients due to the addition of a mobile ultrasound machine. His Expectant Mother Care Frontline Pregnancy Centers, a network of 15 centers, has already served over 70,000 clients since 1985, with over 17,000 women choosing to continue their pregnancies. Slattery estimates that his centers could save as many as 1,000 infants per year -presently it's 850 per year--as he offers ultrasound via his new mobile lab. This work is especially crucial in New York, one of the most abortion-friendly states in the nation. According to a Faith & Family report, "There are about 1.3 million abortions annually. Of those, 104,000 take place in New York City. In the Bronx, abortions outnumber live births."

Installation of an ultrasound unit does change the regulatory status of these counseling centers. They must become licensed as medical clinics under the laws of the state they are operating in. The new clinics still continue providing all of the services for pregnancy crisis intervention. Referrals-- such as medical and legal support services, adoption options, financial and moral support, baby-care products, and sometimes housing--are also provided. Because of the advanced technical equipment the clinics now have, they are required to have a licensed physician serve as medical director and supervise all of the medical services offered. By converting to a medical clinic, they also must bear the cost of increased insurance premiums and structural changes to the facility. In some states, they must also hire a nurse manager to run the clinic in addition to the medical director.

Of course, the cost of the ultrasound equipment is another burden. At Green Bay's A&A Alexandrina Center, the conversion to a medical clinic was made possible by the donation of an ultrasound machine. In nearby Appleton, Wisconsin, 80 percent of the cost to train personnel for the clinic after they acquired an ultrasound unit was covered by a grant from Focus on the Family. As non-profit organizations, they have to work tirelessly in their private and oftentimes creative fundraising efforts to offset the rising financial burdens. And the need to acquire more volunteers to staff the centers is an ongoing struggle.

All of this is in stark contrast to the influence with which Planned Parenthood has managed to blanket this country. It's a David vs. Goliath story, as the pro-life centers are in fact battling a pro-death empire built and continuously sustained in large part by money fleeced from U.S. taxpayers. By Planned Parenthood's own admission, it received $2.2 billion between 1987 and 2001. Thirty percent ($202.7 million) of Planned Parenthood's income in its 2000/2001 fiscal year came from government grants or contracts--taxpayer dollars at work. The annual Planned Parenthood budget now exceeds $882 million, allowing them to maintain their programs and find new and creative ways to attack life. What can't be forgotten, either, is the money derived from abortions, which can cost the "client" from $300 to over $1,000, depending on how early or late in the pregnancy termination occurs.

It is clear that the collaboration of mainstream media and big-business abortion proponents has produced a dulling of our national consciousnesses when it comes to how we think and deal with the various aspects of abortion and personhood. Even the terminology used promotes the denial of basic truths. The custodians of popular opinion refer to the "pro-life" side of the abortion debate not as "pro-life" but as "anti-abortion" or "anti-choice," thereby giving that side a negative connotation. On the other hand, the "pro-abortion" side is referred to, very positively, as "prochoice," ignoring the fact that no one has a "right" to kill an innocent human being. This clever manipulation of the language has contributed directly to the deception that a fetus is just tissue, or is just a mass of cells, but certainly not a human being deserving full protection under the law.

Given modern man's medical and technological advances, combined with his lofty opinion of his own intelligence, it is still somewhat of a mystery that so many fail to grasp the fundamental reality that a human pregnancy is the beginning of a real, live human baby. The ultrasound images confront the parents with the irrevocable reality of the humanity of their own developing child. And this helps them instantly realize what was probably hidden in their hearts and minds: taking innocent life is not an option.

In the end it is this inalienable God-given right to life that stimulates prospective parents to renew their respect for the human life they cooperated with their Creator in conceiving. And it is this same understanding that motivates the dedicated volunteers who work so courageously and persistently to protect the unborn, "the least of My brothers." These volunteers in essence work to preserve and protect our right to life--and by extension all our other God-given rights that would not be possible without life--even though they do it one baby at a time.