by Rey Flores
ALL’s year-long tour of the country to meet, recognize, thank, and provide support to many of the pro-life organizations that make up the Associate program continues! Rey Flores has repeatedly remarked that he is meeting many fantastic people who are saving lives and saving souls through their hard work and perseverance. In his most recent leg of the trek, Rey visited with pro-life warriors in New York City and New Jersey and reported the following:
It is estimated that one in every 10 surgical abortions performed in America take place in New York and that an estimated 41 percent of pregnancies in this part of the country end in abortion. These grim numbers and statistical data indicate the enormity of the battle for life out here. It is certainly no surprise that abortion is so predominant in this city and in the state of New York given some of the pro-abortion elected officials who make the war that much harder to fight.
During our recent visit, we spoke with Sister John Mary and Sister Magdalene at the Visitation Mission of the Sisters of Life. There we learned about the needed outreach to the college-age women who are being constantly bombarded with the contraceptive message from Planned Parenthood and like-minded organizations on college campuses. Sister John Mary said, “The young women have come to know what we can do for them in case they get in a situation of an unplanned pregnancy. While we certainly do what we can to educate people about preventing these unplanned pregnancies through abstinence and chastity education, we also let them know that if they are indeed pregnant, that that is a blessing, and then we counsel women to choose life-affirming options.”
During our visit we also met with Chris Slattery, president of Expectant Mother Care, an American Life League Associate group. EMC provides free counseling, pregnancy medical services—including pregnancy testing and ultrasounds—and prenatal care at 15 locations across the city, and also has a mobile clinic that is present at a few of the area’s abortion facilities during the week. It’s great to see people like Chris Slattery and the folks we visited at Houston Coalition for Life in April taking that awesome extra step toward providing these mobile crisis pregnancy centers steps away from the abortion mills.
(As a side note, EMC is currently offering internships which provide a great opportunity for young people to become the frontline pro-life warriors of today and tomorrow. The internships pay a stipend and provide housing at the Life House in NYC. Another Life House is being developed in the Los Angeles area and Chris would like to see more Life Houses popping up all over America. Learn more about the Bronx Life House at: www.bronxlifehouse.blogspot.com.)
Our visit to New York also presented the opportunity to meet with the very charming but tough Lorraine Gariboldi, who has been in the life-saving business for 26 years. She shared with us her awesome experience in running the Life Center of Long Island and its three pregnancy centers, which serve an average of 300 women per month. At one time, the organization was able to present, in both public and private schools, the most successful abstinence education programs in the area. That is, until the current administration cut off all funding. We also met with some of Lorraine’s staff who gave us a tour of the crisis pregnancy centers and shared stories about the women, babies, and some men that they have, thankfully, helped to choose life.
As we wound down our visit to this part of the country, we also met briefly with the good folks at Good Counsel Homes in Hoboken, New Jersey, and American Life League Associate group Movement for a Better America (MBA). Dennis Howard, director of MBA, hosted a terrific luncheon meeting where we had the chance to connect with Pastor Clenard Childress, founder of BlackGenocide.org, and discuss the challenges of effectively engaging minority communities in the pro-life movement, given that the abortion industry disproportionately targets these same communities.
Our last stop was at Life Choices in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where we met with founder Joan Fasanello. Like Lorraine, Joan shared with us some terrific stories about the miracles that not only helped start the centers, but the miracles that continue to occur whenever the organization finds itself in precarious positions that threaten to close the doors. We also had the opportunity to help fold children’s clothes that were donated to the Children’s Closet, which helps families with material needs for their children and babies.
Pro-lifers in New York and New Jersey, like others throughout the country, are fighting the good fight. We would hate to see what our nation would be like if it weren’t for these very courageous people! We are honored to have them as colleagues in this battle and as members of our Associate Program. Please keep these folks in your prayers!