Abortion remains a concern for faith-based anti-abortion centers in a post-Roe Oklahoma

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, leaders at Hope Pregnancy Centers were prepared in case an influx of women began coming to them for help and support.

The faith-based network already had brought in more medical personnel to perform ultrasounds at its centers across the state and had begun trainings to help staff members counsel younger generations. The launch of a pilot program to pair expectant fathers with mentors was imminent.

The influx of women never came.

However, Gayla White, Hope Pregnancy Centers executive director, said though the centers haven't had an increase in visitors, of the people who do seek help, more of them ― about 10% more ― are seeking information about abortion. The faith-based crisis pregnancy centers do not provide or give referrals for abortions.

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To Deborah Young, development director for Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, the Southern Baptist-affiliate ministry and umbrella agency for the Hope centers, the fact that people are increasingly reaching out for abortion information shows there is "still so much work that we need to do" despite the high court's ruling and Oklahoma's strict anti-abortion laws.

"While performing a surgical abortion here in Oklahoma is now illegal, it does not change the heart — changing the law does not change the heart," Young said. "And so, there's still Oklahoma women who still feel abortion is their best option, and we want to reach them first, before they go out of state to obtain a surgical abortion or before they order the abortion pill."

White said the Hope Centers' goal is to share accurate information on fetal development and abortion procedures and risk to empower women to make informed pregnancy decisions.

"Technology through ultrasound is one of the primary ways that hearts are changed when the culture has told women that it's not a baby, it's just a clump of tissue," Young said. "But then they see that baby on ultrasound, they see the shape of the baby and arms and legs wiggling and moving. They can see on that ultrasound that heart fluttering, and they realize that it truly is a baby."

Like Hope Pregnancy Centers, Willow Pregnancy Support offers information about pregnancy, but its centers have never offered abortion services. Adriana Garza, director of Willow's south Oklahoma City office, said she noticed that the center stopped getting phone calls inquiring about abortions in the weeks after Roe v. Wade was effectively overturned. She said the centers typically received several phone calls a week with such queries, but no more. Garza said the center did provide more pregnancy tests in the months after the court ruling.

The leader of the Planned Parenthood regional organization that includes Oklahoma said she wasn't surprised that anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers have received abortion inquiries because the queries are indicators of something her organization has long been concerned about ― that many people don't realize that they are contacting or walking into centers that are adamantly against abortion.

Emily Wales, Planned Parenthood-Great Plains president and chief executive officer, said she thinks such centers' names, signage and advertisements often mislead people into falsely thinking they are going to obtain a range of pregnancy services, including pregnancy termination.

"A lot of times, what we hear from patients is 'I was there for quite a while. I felt some pressure and it took a while before I realized wait, this isn't Planned Parenthood ― they don't provide abortion or sometimes other medical services. ... and then I felt like they knew I didn't know,'" Wales said.

She said she thinks that it's not a coincidence that some Planned Parenthood clients have reported feeling confused when they visited anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Wales said this bewilderment adds to the general confusion and sometimes heightened fear surrounding anti-abortion laws in some states.

"Many of these centers don't say 'We are anti-abortion' from the start — they don't say that 'Our goal is often counseling,'" Wales said. "Instead, they say generic information like 'abortion information.'"

She said her thoughts about the centers are informed by conversations she has had with people who have visited these facilities. Wales said people have told her that they visited crisis pregnancy centers seeking information and then ended up having a "persuasive conversation" against abortion. The Planned Parenthood leader said this seemed unfair to patients "especially in this moment in history, when people are terrified of talking about abortion and accessing abortion and mentioning that they've had or need an abortion."

"It feels particularly heartbreaking or frustrating to know that these centers are seeing patients who are desperate and hurting, and they're not getting the medical advice they need," Wales said.

Centers tout preparedness after court ruling

The Hope Pregnancy Centers network includes centers in north Oklahoma City, south Oklahoma City, Edmond, Tulsa and Ardmore, Alva and another is planned for Shawnee. The centers seek to assist women, men and families as they navigate pregnancies, including those that are unintended. White said staff and volunteers discuss three options with clients — parenting, adoption and abortion — with no judgment or bias. She said their ultimate desire is that people who seek guidance from the centers choose to have their unborn children.   

White said she knew the top court's ruling potentially would alter the abortion landscape in many ways, but Hope centers began to see a transformation before the Supreme Court's decision in 2022. She said the centers began to receive phone calls from Texas women soon after what was known as the "Texas Heartbeat Bill" was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in May 2021. The law, which went into effect in September 2021, bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected, generally about six weeks after conception.

"We spoke to a lot of women on the phone from Texas who were afraid to go to Texas crisis centers," White said.

The Oklahoma Legislature passed its own series of anti-abortion laws, including a law banning abortion at conception (which became effective in May 2022) that has been deemed one of the strictest abortion bans in the U.S. Then, the nation's highest court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case from Mississippi, and effectively declared that the constitutional right to abortion does not exist, overturning the court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion across the country.

White said she knew that Hope centers would be prepared no matter what the high court ruled.

"We didn't know what to expect, but God did," she said.

The organization already had increased its medical staff so that more ultrasounds and pregnancy tests could be conducted. White said that was a key change because about 82% of the centers' clients who have an ultrasound choose to have their baby.

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She said the agency is preparing to make more changes this year, including increasing staff who will be available to talk to people on weekends.

"Hope is upfront in communicating the services they can and cannot provide," White said. "Women seeking abortions know before they come to Hope that Hope does not provide or refer for abortions but can provide free and confidential services to confirm a pregnancy. Hope also provides support services walking alongside those who choose to parent with parenting classes and practical support through their child’s first year. Hope also provides support for those who choose adoption and abortion."

At Willow Pregnancy Support (formerly called Birth Choice), leaders said they concentrated on safety concerns in the initial days after the Supreme Court's June 2022 ruling. They said they were contacted by the FBI because similar centers had been targeted by abortion-rights activists.

As a result, Willow installed protective shields in front of the receptionists' areas at local centers, bulletproof film for lobby windows and security was arranged for a time, said Carrie Rossow, the agency's development director. Garza noted that some clients had mentioned their surprise at seeing a police car in the parking lot of the southside center.

However, Barbara Chishko, Rossow's mother and Willow's founder and chief executive, said Willow centers ultimately had no problems in the immediate aftermath of the high court's ruling.

Chishko said the agency has seen an increase in requests for the free baby items they provide. The leaders said this increase likely is due to the country's economy and inflation.

Garza said in addition to the increased donors' support, more volunteers also have come forward wanting to help the centers.

Rossow said Willow representatives offer a place where people may receive help without judgment.

Chishko agreed.

"We're kind of like a safety blanket for them," she said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: A look at faith-based anti-abortion centers in a post-Roe Oklahoma