Gabriel Project to open crisis pregnancy center in Indianapolis
Eileen Hartman, center, shows an ultrasound machine on Jan. 7 at 1st Choice for Women to Jamie Wynberry, left, Anita Moody, Bobbie Lawless and Trish Funk, all nurses who are volunteering at the new crisis pregnancy center. It is an effort of the Gabriel Project, a parish-based, pro-life ministry active in many faith communities in central and southern Indiana. Hartman, a member of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, is the executive director of the Gabriel Project. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
The Great Lakes Gabriel Project, a parish-based ministry that offers assistance to mothers in crisis pregnancies across the archdiocese and other dioceses in the Midwest, is set to open the first Catholic pregnancy resource center in Indiana.
1st Choice for Women is located at 5455 W. 86th St. in Indianapolis, less than a mile from the Planned Parenthood center that is the largest provider of abortions in the state.
The generosity of members of the St. Monica Council of the Knights of Columbus in Indianapolis is making 1st Choice for Women possible.
“It’s both scary and breathtaking,” says Gabriel Project executive director Eileen Hartman about the opening of the center. “I have learned over the past 11 years [that [the Gabriel Project has been active in the archdiocese] that God is in charge. Now I’m at least at a place where I can expect wonderful things to happen.”
The primary wonderful thing that Hartman, a member of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, hopes to see happen at the center, of course, is mothers choosing life for their babies.
To help expectant mothers with that decision-making process, 1st Choice for Women is equipped with an ultrasound machine, which will enable the mother’s to see their unborn children.
Three ultrasonographers have volunteered to operate the machine and 17 nurses will soon be trained to provide ultrasounds.
Kim Bova is a board-certified ultrasonographer and a volunteer at the center. She has worked in her field for 17 years, and is the director of the ultrasound department at Community Hospital South in Indianapolis.
“I work on the other side of the fence,” said Bova, a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis. “We see a lot of ER [patients] that are having complications from an abortion. Or just in our general outpatient schedule, we get a [patient’s] history with [gynecological problems]. And you hear, ‘I’ve had two or three abortions.’
“Year after year after year, it steals my spirit.”
So being able to help women avoid the physical, spiritual and emotional pitfalls of abortion is a blessing for Bova.
“This seems like a breath of fresh air,” she said. “I really need this to refuel my spirit, to realize that there are some happy endings.”
Jamie Wynberry is a nurse and will soon be trained to operate the ultrasound machine at 1st Choice for Women.
Although they’ve been blessed with one child, she and her husband are now suffering from infertility. Volunteering to help women considering abortion is close to her heart.
“I felt that this was a way to be connected and give support to those [in crisis pregnancies],” said Wynberry as she wiped tears from her eyes. “For me, it meant a lot to have an opportunity to help women who are fortunate [to have conceived a baby].
“This is where I feel compelled to serve and to reach out.”
It will be sidewalk counselors who initially reach out to expectant mothers entering the four abortion facilities across Indianapolis and invite them to come to 1st Choice for Women.
“It’s an answer to prayer,” said sidewalk counselor Elizabeth Kane. “We have trouble getting ultrasounds for [women] that are in a crisis. It’s going to be wonderful.”
Kane and other counselors have been given keys to the center. When they take a mother there, an on-call volunteer nurse or ultrasonographer will be contacted and come to assist the counselor.
If an ultrasound is done, a doctor will view it later and follow up contact will be made with the mother.
The expectant mother’s visit to 1st Choice for Women can then introduce her to the other ways that the Gabriel Project and other pro-life ministries, such as the archdiocese’s Birthline, can assist her.
“It’s all about the body of Christ,” Hartman said. “That’s what we are. We’re the body of Christ for her. And so you want to treat her like she’s your sister.”
(1st Choice for Women, 5455 W. 86th St., in Indianapolis, will have an open house from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Jan. 22. For more information about 1st Choice for Women, call 317-213-4778. For more information about the Great Lakes Gabriel Project, call 877-734-2444 or log on to www.goangels.org.) †
