Pregnancy resource centers learn to pivot amid a changing abortion landscape

(OSV News) -- When Vida first opened its doors, the Wisconsin pregnancy resource center primarily focused its efforts on giving diapers, wipes and baby items to parents in need.

But 43 years later, Vida provides much more. In addition to offering guidance, material support and parenting education, it has become a free medical clinic offering pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, but also testing for sexually transmitted infections, pap smears, lactation support and sports physicals. When they saw a growing need for housing, they opened a maternity home, too.

While many pregnancy resource centers focus on offering material goods, those with the funds and community support to do more are branching out and finding more ways to reach pregnant women and their families.

"We can't just dabble in it anymore," Anne Tretinyak, Vida's executive director, said of running a pregnancy resource center. "We need to be centers of excellence because it's the right thing -- we're serving the most vulnerable among us."

Some pregnancy centers hope to use those new strategies and services to reach women impacted by state laws that limit or ban abortion or by the recent federal law that cuts funding for Planned Parenthood.

Whether Planned Parenthood will ultimately be stripped of its federal funding remains in question amid ongoing lawsuits over a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminating funds to health providers who also perform abortions -- but just for one year. After Senate and House passage, the bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. It enacts key items of Trump's legislative agenda.

In the meantime, 34 Planned Parenthood centers have closed their doors and seven have announced they will, according to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

So far, many pregnancy centers haven't noticed an uptick from the abortion center closures, said Andrea Trudden, vice president of marketing and communications for Heartbeat International, a network of pregnancy resource centers. But they continue to strategize.

"We've been getting ready for this ever since the Dobbs case made it to the Supreme Court," Trudden told OSV News. "We've been preparing our pregnancy help organizations -- how should you be ready to receive?"

The court announced in May 2021 it would take the Dobbs case, and just over a year later, on June 24, 2022, it handed down its ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion to the states.

That planning Trudden described includes finding more ways to serve. She noted that many centers are opening maternity homes -- there has been a 77% increase in the number of Heartbeat-affiliated maternity homes since 2020. To reach more women, dozens more pregnancy resource centers now offer telehealth or virtual appointments than in years past, Heartbeat reported. Some centers tap into specialized digital marketing services to help them reach clients.

"At our conference each year, I'd say we have about seven different marketing companies that hone in on the needs of pregnancy centers and maternity homes," said Trudden.

Like Vida, many centers are working toward expanding their medical offerings. In 2010, Austin, Texas, pro-lifers dreamed of not only opening a pregnancy center, but an affiliated OB/GYN office that served those clients and anyone else seeking life-affirming medical care. Their dream became the St. John Paul II Life Center and Vitae Clinic.

"(Our goal was that) we wouldn't just save the baby from abortion, we would walk with the mother through her pregnancy," said Linda Ruf, executive director.

Over the past 15 years, the center and clinic have consistently grown. "We bought our new building and expanded our resource center and expanded our marketing programs," said Ruf.

The clinic now has two full-time OB/GYN doctors, a nurse practitioner, a lab and a phlebotomist. Part of that growth may stem from the state's pro-life laws, which resulted in abortion clinic closings. "Our center has grown quite a bit and I think Planned Parenthood closures are a part of that," said Ruf.

But the loss of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics is a mixed-blessing, say pro-life leaders.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there has been a slight uptick in abortions nationwide, with 1.24 million abortions in 2024, according to KFF, an independent online source for health policy research and news. Pro-lifers and those who support keeping abortion legal attribute the increase to the proliferation of abortion pills, which can be accessed via telehealth, are less expensive than a surgical abortion and can be sent through the mail virtually anywhere.

"One of the strategies of the pro-choice movement was to turn every dorm room, bathroom and bedroom into an abortion clinic," said Roland Warren, president and CEO of Care Net, a Christian network of pregnancy centers. "That's essentially what they've done with the ubiquitous availability of the abortion pill, so now 63% of abortions roughly are through the abortion pill."

The closure of physical clinics and migration to telehealth makes reaching abortion vulnerable women more difficult, said Tretinyak. "There's no sidewalk to get on," she said. "The only way we can reach her is the internet."

But AI is making that more difficult, too. Centers such as Vida are currently advertising through search engines such as Google. Meanwhile, young people have switched to using AI platforms such as ChatGPT or Grok to search.

"Our marketing campaigns weren't popping up in those searches -- that's impacting how we reach people who may very much need our help," said Tretinyak. People may also use AI differently than a traditional search engine, too, she said. "So instead of a young woman saying, 'Where can I go for help?' she's putting into AI, 'What kind of help do I need?' or 'What kind of decision should I make?' That is frightening."

State laws also can hinder the work of pregnancy centers. For example, Massachusetts has a state website warning women not to go to pregnancy resource centers. In New Jersey, First Choice Women's Resource Centers is suing the state attorney general after the center was told to turn over all the names of their donors. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this summer to hear the case. But in red states, strong pro-life laws may cause pro-lifers to get complacent, said Warren.

"There can be a sense of apathy that says, 'We outlawed abortion so therefore we don't have a problem here,'" he said.

Warren believes that pro-lifers need to focus their efforts not solely on the supply -- abortion providers and legislators -- but on the demand -- the women and men who feel that ending the life of their child is their best option.

If a woman chooses life for her child but continues to be a part of the secular culture, she could end up at the center again, said Warren, and that's why churches play a vitally important role. Pregnancy centers can help a woman in the short-term before she transitions long-term to a welcoming church community that can help provide for her physical needs, but more importantly, her spiritual needs.

"That's the difference between pro-life and being pro abundant life," said Warren.