Prestonwood Pregnancy Center celebrates 25 years of saving lives

RICHARDSON As nurse sonographer Laura Tatum employed the handheld Doppler, an infant heartbeat reverberated through the small room. The client’s boyfriend, sitting in a corner and scanning his smartphone, ignored the sonogram projected on the large screen despite his girlfriend’s attempts to get his attention. 

Upon hearing the heartbeat, the boyfriend suddenly looked up. Staring at the monitor, he exclaimed, “That’s a life!” 

That day, another abortion-minded couple made a decision for life, one of 42,000 pregnancies preserved since the founding of the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center (PPC) in 1991. 

“A baby was saved that day,” said Leanne Jamieson, director of the center since October 2015. 

“We try as much as possible to do a same-day sonogram because that is often where a changed view happens. Statistics [confirm] that between 70 and 80 percent of abortion-minded women, if they have a sonogram, will change their minds and choose life.”

Leanne Jamieson, Prestonwood Pregnancy Center director

“We try as much as possible to do a same-day sonogram because that is often where a changed view happens. Statistics [confirm] that between 70 and 80 percent of abortion-minded women, if they have a sonogram, will change their minds and choose life.” 

Jamieson’s route to the PPC was circuitous. After serving in women’s ministry at Houston’s Second Baptist church, Jamieson served in a similar role at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. Following the death of PPC director Michelle Thames last year, Jamieson was invited to step in.

“I bring a fresh perspective to the pregnancy world. I didn’t come up through the system. I asked a lot of questions,” Jamieson said, adding that her experience in women’s ministry has helped her take a “different look at things.”

“We deal not just with women here but sometimes with the men that join them, so it’s more of a family ministry than a women’s ministry.”

The center’s focus is not just on being “pro-life,” Jamieson said, but rather also “pro-love.” This philosophy permeates the organization, as does intentionality about reaching the millennial generation.

“Pregnancy centers need to evolve. The millennials are changing how they want to intake information. If they can YouTube it, they are not going to come to us for it. We want to develop a relationship. We want to be there and walk with them. And so that means we are here for the long haul if they will allow us to be.”

Part of walking with millennials means still offering classes in parenting, but also digitizing publications, giving clients the ability to make and confirm appointments by text, continuing rewards programs for free car seats and diaper coupons, implementing downloadable computer apps and even installing a 24/7 crisis phone line. 

Jamieson said she expects the crisis phone line to be operational this summer. A new prayer app, Friends of Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, became available in early May.

To address client needs, PPC has begun a mentoring program for young mothers involving career counseling, assistance in pursuing higher education, resume writing and interview coaching, including a partnership with Upscale Resale to help clients acquire outfits for job interviews. PPC is also in the process of developing partnerships with child care centers.

“We want to help the young mother more holistically,” Jamieson said. “We are not here just to give, but we want to help her with those tools … so that she can successfully manage life and this child.”

The center also offers referrals to medical professionals, adoption agencies and other resources.

The pregnant woman has three choices: abortion, parenting, and parenting by giving up the child for adoption, Jamieson said, noting that one in four pregnancies also ends in miscarriage.

“Women will say, I cannot have this change my life. Well, your life has changed the moment you got pregnant. The question becomes, in what way is it going to change? We will talk to them about options.”

One option is adoption. “We try to provide clients with the true picture of what adoption looks like. We will refer to several different adoption agencies,” Jamieson said.

For women who choose to keep their babies but lack support systems, PPC has begun a new program called the Cuddlers, women sent out in pairs to visit clients after the baby is born. 

With a paid staff of 9, the center depends upon its 80-90 volunteers who commit to serve weekly at the main center or with a mobile sonogram unit. These volunteers, mostly client advocates, “are the hands and the feet of the ministry,” Jamieson said. “Without them, we would not be able to see the number of clients that we do.”

That number is growing. In 2015, 2,800 clients received services and counseling at the main location and the two mobile units, the latter deployed to socio-economically underserved areas. Thus far in 2016, Jamieson reported, that number is on track to reach 4,000. Since 1991, the center has seen 62,000 women.

Part of each client visit includes a gospel presentation by staff or trained volunteers. Not only does the client hear the gospel, but so does everyone who comes in with her. These “divine appointments” have resulted in more than 2,300 salvations since 1991, including 78 so far in 2016.

PPC also offers an abortion recovery program called Hope Restored, involving a confidential small group Bible study lasting several months and meeting in the safe and neutral location of the center. “The woman [who has had an abortion] needs to know that Christ died for her and that he forgave her, if she knows him,” Jamieson said. “Often her biggest issue is that she needs to forgive herself.”

Prestonwood pastor Jack Graham, whose vision it was for the center, said in a May 6 radio interview on KCBI’s “Coffee with Creamer,” that the PPC is part of Prestonwood’s commitment to “engage the vital issues of our time: poverty, injustice, abortion.”

Graham called PPC the “child” of a pregnancy center started at his former church in West Palm Beach, Florida. Remembering an occasion when he had preached against abortion, Graham recalled feeling God speak to him: “What are you going to do about it?” Thus the West Palm center was founded.

“Prestonwood Pregnancy Center is an outgrowth of that,” Graham said, referring to the fact that he brought the ministry idea with him to Texas.

On Mother’s Day, May 6, a yearlong celebration of the silver anniversary of the PPC began at Prestonwood. The stage of the worship center was adorned with blue, pink and white flowers representing babies and souls saved during the PPC’s 25 years. Pew envelopes provided the congregation with opportunities to give. A mobile sonogram unit in the church parking lot provided a glimpse of the work, as did the airing of a 25th anniversary video.

For more information, visit prestonwoodpregnancy.org and download the free “Friends of Prestonwood Pregnancy Center” app at prestonwood.org/apps.