Category: Sherri

I spent a lot of time talking about buildings this year. That’s because, for the first time in CNP’s 38-year history we own our own home. And it’s beautiful. It proclaims the love, hope and compassion that YOU have for vulnerable women and babies in our community. Praise God for his provision through your generosity!

But, our new building is just a ministry tool. Its value doesn’t come from the city assessor, it comes from God. It comes from using 11101 Warwick Boulevard to serve moms and save babies in our community. Here are a few examples that give it value from this past year:

Tragically, 15 children in Virginia died from Covid-19. But since March 2020, 300 times that number of babies died from abortion . . . on the Peninsula. That’s over 4,000 preborn lives taken from our community in less than 3 years. But it would have been more.

We made a commitment in 2020 to double down on our efforts to save babies from abortion. For starters, we never closed. Then we doubled our clinic ad budget, expanded our hours, and added new services. We created hundreds of blogs, videos, and social media posts to reach more local women.

Far away from the news, the political arena, and the social media posts, things are different.

The visible and loud demand attention: the protesting voices heard through megaphones, the “Her Body, Her Choice” mantras on social media, and the sound bites from politicians. But here, in Care Net Peninsula’s medical clinic, there is none of that – it’s just her (and hopefully, the father of her baby).

You know, in the quiet. When the cameras are off and when the crowd is gone. When she speaks for herself, without the public pressure to defend her womanhood by not needing a man.

The loud opinions may have mattered once; they may have even been her own. But right now, no one is as loud as he is – no slogan, no politician, no activist.

You may be scratching your head. You might be wondering – What gives me the right to counter decades of systematic messaging that indicates the opposite?

Well, women.

Here at Care Net Peninsula, we have been listening to women for decades. Our clients know what they should say – how they should think – how empowered they should feel.

My body, my choice. No man needed – or wanted. But now pregnant, that sentiment falls flat. She wants more from him – for him to step up to the table beside her. To listen and to speak. After all, she didn’t get pregnant alone.

The men – the fathers of our clients’ babies – are as varied as the women we serve. Intricately connected though – in that they almost always matter to the mothers of their babies. What they think matters. What they say matters. What they don’t say matters.

Some men are unsure – they don’t know what they want. Many of our women feel the same. Some men overtly want her to choose an abortion, and some explicitly want her to choose life. Some men are silent; years of “Her body, her choice” has created quiet men. They like to call themselves “silent but supportive,” though we know silence and support rarely exist together. Silent but supportive partners create lonely women, burdened to make a decision without his help.

So why even bring this up? What are you to do with this information? Well, a few things.

More than ever, be on your guard against smart-sounding sound bites that just aren’t true. Sure, there have been women who’ve wanted total autonomy. They didn’t want the input of their friends, boyfriends, husbands, or exes. But these women have been in the minority, they are not the majority – despite what the loud voices of our culture would have you believe.

For many of our clients, he is in her head – either vocally or silently. He’s still there and he carries a lot of weight either way.

Secondly, know that’s why it is so important that he is included in the services she receives in our clinic. He is always welcome to come with her to her medical appointment – as long as she wants him included.

• • Do you mean he can come into the consult room to discuss pregnancy options, his feelings, and his concerns? To hear about the support our donors and our community partners provide? Yes, with her consent.

• • Do you mean he can come into the ultrasound room, to observe with his own eyes the life that is growing inside her? You bet, with her consent.

• • Do you mean he can hear medically accurate information about the different types of abortion procedures? Definitely, with her consent.

Here in the clinic, we have more than a “he can come” response. We encourage our clients – as they are trying to make decisions about their pregnancies – to bring the fathers of their babies with them when they come for their appointments. Even during COVID, when restrictions were tight for the sake of safety, our directors went against the norm by continuing to allow women – as they were making pregnancy decisions – to bring the babies’ fathers with them. He was too important to leave out; her wants and needs for his input were too important to disregard.

He’s that important to her and the entire decision-making process – so he’s important to us, too.

His thoughts matter to her and play into her final decision about what she will do with the pregnancy. And while women may make voting decisions based on collective persuasion, they make pregnancy decisions usually in pairs. That’s why our clinic is a safe space for her to process her pregnancy and understand her options while including him; a safe space for her to receive important medical services and accurate information, with him by her side.

And a safe space for both of them – to learn the truth, to hear and be heard, to leave knowing about the life she is carrying inside her – that living, valuable, life. When people know the truth, they aren’t so drawn to the false narrative of the day.

And listen, the world may not believe in God, as if dismissing Him dismisses His truths. But God’s truths are still true – they would be even if no one believed them. So, when God says He created male and female – with the ability to multiply – it was not accidental that two people were involved. When she says he matters, she is speaking from the heart God created inside her. Babies involve two parents. It’s the way God created it to be.

I knew there were women. But I wanted to know how many women. So, I looked through our files. The number is 33. Throughout 2021, 33 women entered our clinic doors either determined to abort their babies or strongly considering the abortion option.

Now to be clear, there were a lot more women who entered our doors also planning to abort. But what makes these 33 women significant is what they learned during their appointments at Alcove Health Women’s Clinic.

Through our medical services, each of these women found that either they weren’t pregnant (meaning their pregnancy test at home was either invalid or there was an error in the use/reading of the test) or they did not have a viable pregnancy (meaning there was no heartbeat).

These 33 were considering, if not planning, to leave our clinic and contact an abortion provider. And they didn’t even have a pregnancy to abort.

Here at Alcove Health Women’s Clinic, you help us serve moms and save babies. For these 33 moms, you served them so – rather than fast-tracking it to an abortion clinic or mail-to-home abortion provider – they slowed down and got the information they needed to make a wise and safe choice.

Now you may be thinking, so what? No babies would’ve been harmed in these abortions. Why is this blog-worthy material?

Two reasons.

First, because God protected these women and He is always blog-worthy. We can all celebrate that.

For these 33, the medical services they received here at Alcove Health Women’s Clinic were a safeguard – over their bodies, their hearts, and their futures. You see, an abortion – even one on a baby that doesn’t exist or isn’t alive – is still an abortion to the woman. God – in His goodness – sheltered each of these women from the life-long impact of thinking she had an abortion. So they did not suffer physical complications, or post-abortion symptoms, or relational difficulties, or spiritual heartache. All because these 33 individual women were given an opportunity to learn the truth before they took any action.

You can see God’s hand of protection all over these women’s stories.

Ten years from now, these 33 will not be contacting us asking for post-abortion recovery. For these women, you – our supporters – didn’t save babies, but you sure did serve women. God provided a way for them to know truth. And that one truth will affect them their entire lives.

Secondly, this is note-worthy because we know that you may be the first contact a woman has when she is considering an abortion. Be it a friend, a church member, a co-worker, or a family member.

We want you to know that even the woman who is 100% confident she will only consider an abortion still cannot have 100% confidence that she even knows what’s going on inside her body – or if she’s even pregnant – until she visits Alcove Health to get the important information our services provide. For free.

As our community of support, you are also the voice in our community. Perhaps you will meet a woman determined to abort. Remind her we’re here for her to provide the same services that served these 33.

Remind her of these 33 women. She could be one of them.