Pregnancy Support Services Benefit Families and Society

The Church frequently reminds us that we are to care for all of God’s people, especially the weakest and most defenseless among us. Pregnancy support services provide care and protection for some of our society’s most vulnerable members by offering assistance to women throughout their pregnancies and as they welcome their children into the world. Florida is home to numerous pregnancy help centers, many of which receive funding assistance through the Florida Pregnancy Care Network. 

Senator Rene Garcia (R-Miami), a champion of the Pregnancy Care Network in the Florida Legislature, recently visited Heartbeat of Miami, a pregnancy resource organization in his district, where he learned firsthand the benefits of supporting pregnant women in need. Pregnancy help centers, which may or may not be faith-based, believe in the sanctity of life, promote life-affirming decisions, and can boast tremendous success rates. Heartbeat of Miami, for example, finds that 85% of women they see are abortion-minded at first, but 92% choose life! 

How do Florida’s Pregnancy Help Centers do it? Through love and service. Typical services include pregnancy and childbirth education, counseling, referrals for other services, material support, and infant care and parenting classes which can extend throughout the baby’s first year of life. The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops continues to advocate for funding for these centers.