The Truth About Pregnancy Centers No One Is Telling You

In 2024, pregnancy resource centers across America offered women, children, and families over $452 million in total services and material goods. Almost half a billion dollars may seem like an impersonal statistic. Yet those dollars touched millions of individual lives, offering hope and even life to countless of Americans, including two of my greatest blessings: my daughters. 

As the holiday season approaches, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the New Jersey pregnancy resource center that made their lives possible. Without that center, I would not have the financial freedom or professional purpose that I enjoy today. My experience also opened my eyes to the essential care that these organizations have quietly provided to the vulnerable for over half a century. 

In our increasingly polarized and individualistic society, their work is more essential than ever.  

The Charlotte Lozier Institute recently released a new report showing the impact of the nation’s 2,775 pregnancy resource centers in 2024. Not only did these centers provide nearly half a billion dollars in material resources and services, but they also served over a million new clients throughout the year. This included almost four million total client sessions, which the report noted is equivalent to each center serving a new client daily. 

The overwhelming majority of pregnancy resource centers provide free or low-cost medical services. Over 10,000 trained medical professionals work with these organizations, enabling them to offer hundreds of thousands of free ultrasounds annually in addition to other medical necessities. Organizations like this are critical for ensuring every woman does not feel pressured into an unwanted abortion, especially considering that 60% of post-abortive women say they would have preferred to parent if they had more resources or support.

 One of the most powerful statistics in the report, however, was that over 47,000 of those who help pregnancy resource centers are volunteers. Tens of thousands of people across the country are selflessly giving their time, money, expertise, and more to serve strangers in need. Their compassionate commitment to this worthy cause is changing lives every single day. 

 I would know better than anyone. 

I experienced an unexpected pregnancy as a sophomore in high school. Thankfully, my family and church connected me with a New Jersey pregnancy resource center, Choices of the Heart. The women I encountered at the center were beyond gracious, loving, and supportive. In addition to a free ultrasound and material resources, they offered me guidance and friendship at a time when I felt scared and lost. They were a lifeline when I needed it most. 

When I unexpectedly became pregnant again four years later, however, I was more afraid than the first time. I could not imagine putting my mother through the same worry and heartache that I had caused her in high school. I mistakenly thought that people would not be tolerant about this happening a second time. Moreover, I feared that I would not be able to financially afford a second child. So, I headed to a local abortion facility.

When I saw my daughter’s ultrasound, however, I knew I could not end her life. I fled the abortion clinic and knew immediately where to go. 

At Choices of the Heart, I was once again showered with love, resources, and support from volunteers and staffers who had become my friends. There was no judgment or intolerance like I had feared. Instead, the women at the center helped me get back on my feet and begin working towards my future. Today, thanks to their service in my time of need, I am a happily married homeowner and mother of two beautiful girls. My experience at the center made me realize that these women and their mission were the ‘real deal.’ They genuinely care about babies and moms, and their compassionate, humble service each day attests to that in ways that words cannot. 

I believed so much in them that I began working for Choices of the Heart, now called True Women’s Center. My daily mission is to help the center provide other women with the same support I received. Sadly, there are some who disagree with our work simply because we do not offer abortions. Just nearby, our friends at First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, another pregnancy resource center, have endured a lengthy legal battle against the New Jersey Attorney General, who is fighting their right to protect their donors and other confidential information. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in their case on December 2nd.

These politically motivated attacks in our home state deeply sadden me as someone whose life would not be the same without a New Jersey pregnancy resource center. I wish that those waging the attacks could learn about the millions of dollars in resources and support that these organizations offer to women. I hope that more people hear the heartfelt stories of their lives forever changed thanks to the army of volunteers who serve them. 

I wish that they could see my holiday table this year, surrounded by my sweet daughters, and piled high with the food that my husband and I are proud to provide for them, all thanks to one of the very same pro-life organizations that pro-abortion activists demonize. 

I hope one day Americans learn that our story is not an anomaly, and that the millions of men, women, and children served annually by pregnancy resource centers are not just statistics; they are human beings who need less political division and more of our help. 

Courtney Garaguso is a mother of two. She works for True Women’s Center, a pregnancy center in New Jersey.