COLLEGE STATION, TX, February 4, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For years she worked as the director of the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. But after a dramatic conversion to the pro-life cause, Abby Johnson is now taking the next logical step in undoing the damage that her former employer has wrought on her Texas community.
This week Johnson, the founder of the pro-life ministry And Then There Were None, announced that she is teaming up with the Guiding Star Project to start a pregnancy resource and maternity care center that will begin serving the women of the Brazos Valley, Texas in early 2014.
The announcement comes just months after Johnson learned that her former Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, had shut down in the wake of the passage of a state pro-life law. But the closure of that clinic doesn’t mean that pro-life activists can rest easy, she said this week. On the contrary, “this means our work is just beginning.”
“Women in the Brazos Valley were concerned that without the Planned Parenthood they wouldn’t have access to women’s health care,” she said. “We are here to meet their need – in a life affirming and truly ‘pro-woman’ way.”
In addition to providing support and housing for women in unplanned or crisis pregnancies, Guiding Star Centers also provide a long list of other medical services to women. This includes help with overcoming infertility, lactation consultation, childcare classes, training in natural family planning, and comprehensive women’s health services.
Johnson explained that while she thought she was empowering women in her previous job, she quit after she realized that she was actually harming them. Opening the pro-baby and pro-woman center, she said, “has finally given me the opportunity to do what I have wanted all along, to help and serve women, while respecting their dignity and the dignity of the unborn as well.”
Laura Ricketts, executive director of the Guiding Star Project, said that the founding of the new center will take place in three phases. In the first phase, Guiding Star Brazos Valley will offer pregnancy care and resource services, while renovating the Guiding Star Brazos Valley Maternity Home. The second phase will see the opening of the maternity home. Then, in phase three, the center will begin offering the whole gamut of services provided by other Guiding Star centers.
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“Guiding Star Brazos Valley is designed to be a place where women can come and have their needs met in a concrete, pro-active, empowering atmosphere,” said Ricketts. “We don’t make empty promises. We offer substance; something every woman can appreciate.”
Leah Jacobson, founder of The Guiding Star Project, agreed. “The Guiding Star Project is about bringing together organizations in a community under a shared philosophy and vision to provide women with real alternatives – real health care, real support, in every stage of their child bearing years,” she said.
Guiding Star Brazos Valley will be hosting its first fundraiser on February 16, 2014 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The event, “Just the Beginning” Launch Party, is set to share the vision of the project and raise funds for the ministry.
“It’s going to be a party!” said Johnson. “We want to celebrate with the community of College Station. Not only is the community responsible for pressuring the Planned Parenthood to close, but now the community, through the Guiding Star Affiliate, is providing for the women of the Brazos Valley the shelter, care, and choices they deserve.”
“It’s very exciting!” she continued, “We expect a large show of support and we are confident that our amazing pro-life community here will embrace this as the next step in bringing a culture of Life to the Brazos Valley.”
More information on the Guiding Star Project and Guiding Star Brazos Valley and the upcoming fundraising event can be found at www.guidingstarbrazosvalley.com.