Seeing a baby for the first time through ultrasound can be life-changing for a pregnant woman in crisis, according to Lauren Purtee, a sonographer at Pregnancy Center Plus in Cincinnati.

“Seventy to 75% of our clients change their mind after the ultrasound,” she said. “That’s a pretty big number to show how important that ultrasound is—to be able to show these women their baby so, ‘Yeah, there’s a heartbeat and no, this is not just a clump of cells.’”

Pregnancy Center Plus is a non-profit agency that has served the Cincinnati area for 40 years, offering pregnancy testing and information; STI (sexually transmitted infection) testing; information on pregnant mothers’ rights and all options available to them; parenting classes; male mentoring; nutritional services; referrals for legal aid and other social services; baby items; clothing for the baby and other children at home; and maternity clothes. They also offer remote psychological and post-abortive counseling. All services are free of charge.

“The most common need … [is just] somebody to listen and care about them,” said Purtee, who volunteered part-time for two years before joining the staff full-time in 2019. “We had a client who came in … [and when] the advocate asked, ‘How are you?’ she kind of broke down and … said, ‘You are the first person that asked me how I’m doing since I found out I was pregnant.’”

Purtee said the pregnancy center’s overall goal is to lower fears and raise hope for young women, many of whom are told they can’t achieve their goals if they have a baby.

“We help show them a way in which they can accomplish whatever they want to do,” she said, sharing that a former colleague went to ultrasound school as a single mom of six children.

After moving with her husband and four young children to Ohio from New York, one client learned the moving truck would not arrive for two months. She said Pregnancy Center Plus provided diapers, baby wipes and other baby necessities, along with clothes for the other children. Two-and-a-half years later, she again turned to the center for an infant car seat to bring her fifth baby home from the hospital.

“They’re doing a great job and honestly I love it there,” said the client. “There are awesome people there. They always give good advice and they offer good resources if they’re not able to help you.”

Next month, Ohio voters will determine the fate of Amendment 22 to the state’s constitution. It will permit abortions based on fetal viability, determined on a case-by-case basis. This is not the first time the center faced changes based on a state law. A bill restricting abortions after a baby’s heartbeat is detected remains in the courts, but Putree said, “We had girls rushing to us, panicking because they had to find out if there was a heartbeat.”

She admitted the amendment is causing concern because of the “huge amount of interpretation” on fetal viability.

“The women are just torn up about it, and then their kid is born, and they find out they don’t have nearly the issues the doctor told them they were going to have,” she said.

“We’re a little nervous about how it’s going to pan out, but then again, God’s got this. And we just gotta have faith that He knows how it’s going to go, and we’ll just keep fighting the fight.”

This article appeared in the October 2023 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.