News Every Day | 19 May 2022, 23:38

Unlike Abortion Clinics, Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Help Moms With Baby Formula

Mothers desperate to find formula for their babies are turning to pro-life pregnancy resource centers across the country for help.

For many mothers, the staff and volunteers at these organizations have encouraged and supported them through some of their most difficult struggles in life. But now some pro-lifers are expressing frustration and heartbreak that they cannot find enough formula for mothers and babies in need.

“While some pregnancy centers with an excess supply have been able to give cans away to families in their communities, others … are either low or completely out of stock,” World magazine reported this week.

The baby formula shortage is a national crisis after a major manufacturer recalled products and later shut down. That coupled with labor shortages and other economic struggles has many families scrambling to find the formula that their infants need.

ChristyAnne Collins, of the Pregnancy and Parenting Support Center in Texas City, Texas, told World that they usually have up to 200 cans of baby formula in stock. But this week, they have nothing, she said.

Collins said they are receiving dozens of calls and visits every day to ask about formula, and it’s “heartbreaking” to turn the mothers away empty-handed.

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“We’ve got the reputation in the community of being the go-to organization when a mother needs assistance. And they come to us, and we can’t help them,” Collins said. “These moms are so distraught that there’s nowhere to meet the need of their baby. … [It’s been] heartbreaking to our staff and volunteers.”

Other pregnancy centers have been able to help families searching for formula.

Sarah Bowen, executive director of the Promise of Life Network in Pennsylvania, told the magazine that they have had several generous donors and mothers who have donated enough formula to help everyone who needs it so far.

Here’s more from the report:

A pregnancy center in Hillsdale, Mich., announced in a May 12 news release that it had an excess of formula due to a drop in clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, the staff has advertised the free formula in Facebook posts.

Jeri Lynn Scott, the director of a pregnancy center in San Antonio, Texas, said her facility hasn’t run out of formula yet because one of its major donors is an Enfamil sales rep and donated a few hundred cans last year. Her center on May 16 started a baby drive for local families to pick up free cans of formula along with other items like diapers and wipes.

Millions of mothers turn to pro-life pregnancy centers for help every year, whether it’s baby formula, cribs, car seats, diapers, pregnancy tests, counseling or emotional support. Approximately 3,000 pregnancy centers are located across the United States, offering free services to families in need.

Research by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found these centers served about 2 million people in 2019, providing more than 730,000 pregnancy tests, nearly half a million ultrasounds, 1.3 million packs of diapers and more than 2 million baby outfits, all for free.

Services typically include counseling and pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parenting classes, maternity and baby clothes, diapers and car seats. Some also offer medical services including well-women exams and STD testing and treatment, along with parenting classes, job skill training, help signing up for government assistance and more. Many offer post-abortion counseling as well.