Friday feature: Statewide alliances

Pregnancy care centers are often attacked by abortion advocates as being "fake clinics" that offer false information about abortion and trick women into continuing their pregnancies. Nothing could be further from the truth, but countering such misconceptions is difficult. Abortion advocacy groups are well-funded and adept at manipulating the media. What's a center to do?

Most PCCs adopt standards of operation such as those to which we hold our partner centers. That's one level of defense. Another is to band together with like-minded PCCs in statewide alliances.

One such group is the Alliance for Life of Missouri. You can find a full list of their services on their website, but one of the key components is nurturing centers through consultation and training. Our president, Tom Lothamer, has led workshops at several conferences with the Missouri alliance over the years. He also worked with our state's PCCs to form the Alliance for Life of Michigan.

Another key component of alliances is building awareness among state legislators so they understand the value of PCCs to Missouri families. This effort is aimed at forestalling the tactics used against centers in other states that, thankfully, have come to nothing.

To do:

• Ask God to protect PCCs from attacks
• Find the Alliance for Life - Missouri on Facebook
• Read Are we really so bad?