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The Archdiocese of Miami Respect Life office has linked forces with an ecumenical group, Heartbeat International, to open an ultrasound-equipped pregnancy care center in the city of Hialeah.
This will be only the second ultrasound-equipped center in Miami-Dade County, and the first in Hialeah, which is “infested” with abortion providers, in the words of Rev. John Ensor of Heartbeat International.
The center, staffed by medical professionals, will provide women with a free ultrasound of their unborn baby and a medical consultation. A 2003 study by Focus on the Family found that, nationwide, 79 percent of women considering abortion changed their minds when provided with an ultrasound and practical help.
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‘While some in the pro-life movement labor to make abortion unlawful,
the pregnancy center movement works to make abortion unnecessary.’
Joan Crown, associate director, archdiocesan Respect Life Office |
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“While some in the pro-life movement labor to make abortion unlawful, the pregnancy center movement works to make abortion unnecessary,” said Crown. “After meeting for six months, the Respect Life Office agreed that they should cross ecumenical lines and form a united front to tackle this problem.”
Heartbeat International is a coalition of Christian organizations that work to establish pregnancy centers in the cities with the nation’s highest abortion rates.
Miami was chosen for this pilot project because it is one of the four metropolitan areas in America where abortion providers are concentrated. The others are Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 40 percent of all of Florida’s abortions take place in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
About 37 abortion facilities have been identified in the Greater Miami metropolitan area, yet the region has only one ultrasound-equipped pregnancy center. The city of Hialeah was chosen because of the extremely high concentration of abortion providers. Hispanic-American women make up 13 percent of the population but account for 20 percent of all abortions.
“Hispanics need to know they are being attacked — just look at the logistics of where abortions centers are established,” said Crown, noting the link between abortion and eugenics.
“The city of Hialeah has seven facilities, exploiting the fears and difficult circumstances of women in unplanned pregnancies,” said Rev. Ensor, who is also the author of “Answering the Call” and founder of “A Women’s Concern,” a ministry of six pregnancy centers in Boston.
“Make that six (abortion facilities),” he said. “In July, as we started to assemble a development committee, God providentially exposed the heart-wrenching cruelty, greed and truly murderous spirit of the abortion business in that very neighborhood.”
Rev. Ensor was referring to the story, which received national coverage, that a baby who was born alive in one of the Hialeah abortion centers had been placed into a bio-hazard bag and allowed to suffocate. Police and prosecutors are investigating the matter but are not sure charges can be filed. The clinic has shut down.
Shorty after the news broke, Miryam Knigge, a volunteer for Hialeah’s Heartbeat development committee, visited the abortion center to take a picture. While she was on site two young girls came by, one of whom was pregnant. They were looking for help.
“I had never been to an abortion facility before and I didn’t know what to say to them. I prayed, and I told them what had just happened there and then I struggled with what to say next. I drove home thinking, ‘We have got to get this Heartbeat of Miami clinic open.’”
Knigge added that, after reading Ensor's book, “I realize that each one of us, as Christians and Catholics, must be prepared to look at this issue face-to-face and know how to react in a positive way so that we can help these women to make the choice to choose life.”
“This issue more than any other can unite all faiths and it seems now is that time,” said Crown.
Heartbeat of Miami is currently approaching churches of all faiths in the Hialeah area to raise initial donations to help launch the pregnancy care center. Some churches have already started “baby bottle campaigns” to involve all their parishioners in this project.
Archbishop Favalora has encouraged all the Catholic churches to consider how they might be able to help
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HOW TO HELP
If you would like to be part of the Heartbeat Miami project,
call the archdiocesan Respect Life Office at 305-653-2966 |
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