BOWLING GREEN – A young woman with an unexpected pregnancy and no one to turn to for help is a dilemma that Options for Women (Pregnancy Resource Center) in Bowling Green hopes to avoid. Women can take advantage of the services offered at this crisis pregnancy center and make a positive change in their lives.
“Many of the women come in and they don’t know what to do,” Carmen Gamm, director of client services and member of Second Baptist Church. “They see only abortion as the option. We want them to see adoption and carry-to-parent as the better options.”
Eleanor Warner, a founding Board member, and member of Immanuel Baptist Church, agreed with Gamm. “We need to pray for these women,” she said, “they don’t know what to do. God is the creator of life, and He never makes a mistake. We need these women to see there is a purpose for life.”
Gamm said many of the women need the life skill classes offered by the center. “When they first come,” she said, “they don’t see the brokenness. They see no problem from hopping from one relationship to another. As we develop relationships, we want to lead them to Jesus to heal that brokenness. We want to share God’s plan for marriage, relationships and family. Without a heart change, the family remains broken and the babies are not treasured.”
Since the center opened five years ago, Gamm reported serving 348 women, 109 in the past twelve months. “We have assisted more than 130 abortion-vulnerable women,” she said. “We’ve worked with twenty-one of them in the last year. It is difficult to gauge how many babies we have saved. We keep fighting the good fight.”
Warner identified the ultrasound as an important part of the arsenal. “The center does ultrasounds once a month, but some are done on the spot for girls when they come in,” she said. “It is a big help when they see that baby.”
Options provides a variety of services to encourage women to place for adoption or to parent the child. “We offer a variety of parenting and life skills classes,” Gamm said. “We even have a sweet boutique for clients to spend bucks that they have earned by taking the classes. The boutique has cute baby items and necessities for the baby.”
The Pregnancy Center started several years ago. Warner was a part of the early history of Options. “The first step was the Pike County Pro-Life group,” she said. “The Catholics at St. Clements were on the leading edge of pro-life. We made trips to Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life. Then, we had fundraisers to pay the way for ten young people to attend. Father Bill Peckman was a driving force and he challenged us to do something about saving babies.”
Warner explained that the Options Center was following a model of a crisis center in Rolla, Missouri. “Joe and Jan Dalton took our original Board members on a tour of their facility, and they did a lot of training for us to get started.”
Warner spent her nursing career primarily in the ICU, but early in her career, she studied midwifery in England. “All the way through my career, I could see God’s leading,” she said. “He had a plan for this in my background. It takes a while to educate a community. But it is happening, we will soon open a second location in Hannibal.”
Ron Kunzweiler, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Bowling Green, agreed with Warner.
“We sensed the Lord pulling this together,” he said. “Christians of different denominations working together with all of their church members helping out. Christ wants lives and families to thrive. He is the author of family, and He wants His people to restore His original intent.”