Autumn 2025 officially arrived in North America on September 22. Five friends joined me at a unique place called Kindness Ranch the weekend prior, where we experienced a mixture of summer and autumn. Summer-like temperatures and sunshine welcomed us the first day, then a cool front moved in, dropping the temperature and bringing clouds and rain, and then on Sunday, summer arrived again, with a blazing blue sky, an inkling of breeze, and plentiful sunshine. Small birds danced among pine branches, and a tiny hummingbird visited a yellow daisy near our rented cabin.
Autumn and September may be reflected on our calendars, but in some areas, like Eastern Wyoming, summer hangs on.
All seasons in nature have merit and display their unique beauty. Fresh snowfall in winter creates a white blanket of cleanliness upon the landscape. Spring brings budding trees and bushes as well as new flowers in diverse colors and sizes. Summer offers sunshine and warm temperatures to continue the growth of plants as well as new life with the birth of baby birds and wildlife. Autumn rains, cooler temperatures, and red and gold leaves change the landscape from summer vibes to vibrant colors amid understory and tree branches.
Our own lives see change, including births, employment, homes, and family. Humans move. They switch jobs. They give birth. They send their kids to elementary, middle, and high school. They experience empty nests when those children move because of college or job. People don’t just switch jobs, many change careers. They grow older. They care for elderly parents. They bury friends and loved ones.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with the phrase, “The only constant in life is change.” His statement prevails today.
Like seasons in nature, our lives change. So does pregnancy help work.
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When the movement took strong root more than sixty years ago, and abortion became legal nationally in 1973, surgical methods were the primary ways physicians conducted abortions. Pregnancy help centers provided resources and supplies, such as maternity clothes and diapers, and offered free, self-administered pregnancy tests. Less than 30 years later, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved chemical abortion using the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. At first limited through seven weeks’ gestation, the two-drug regime was later approved, and continues to be approved, through 10 weeks’ gestation.
In response to these earlier changes, pregnancy centers began offering limited medical services, and nurses were hired and taught the skill of limited obstetrical ultrasound. This allowed women to see their unborn babies and understand more about the life growing inside them. Some centers also provided testing for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and abortion healing programs for women who struggled with a previous abortion decision. All these new services helped women and saved thousands of unborn lives from abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and states were once again allowed to determine how to handle the issue. Some passed laws to limit abortion while others enshrined the practice into state constitutions. Chemical abortion became available virtually through telehealth and websites. Many pregnancy centers began offering virtual services, including parenting programs and the opportunity to speak to a nurse prior to coming into a brick and mortar for medical services. Chemical abortions now account for the majority of abortions done in the United States. Ordering these drugs online and having them delivered through the mail is a frightening reality. To combat this trend, there has been 172% growth in pregnancy help organizations providing virtual support to clients and potential clients, according to a recent Heartbeat International Life Trends Report.
Additionally, the number of maternity homes increased by 17 percent since 2022, and pregnancy resource centers are opting to add homes to their services, meeting a critical housing need for single mothers.
Today’s pregnancy help organizations look different and serve clients differently than during the past 50+ years. Seasons have changed in the abortion arena, and therefore, pregnancy help organizations have changed in many ways as well, meeting the needs of today’s abortion vulnerable and abortion-minded women and the fathers of their children.
Tweet This: Things have changed in the abortion arena, and pregnancy help organizations have changed in many ways as well.
For example, mental health services are becoming available at pregnancy centers. Addiction recovery programs are gaining traction inside maternity homes. And Abortion Pill Reversal offerings are growing at pregnancy medical clinics, having saved more than 7,000 unborn lives during the past dozen years. Additionally, virtual videos help clients understand the truth about abortion, and serving young dads through fatherhood programs, grows stronger in the pro-life movement, including at pregnancy help organizations.
Helping pregnant women at risk for abortion to choose life for their unborn remains the vital mission of the pregnancy help movement. Delivery methods, from medical services to on and off-site programs, may change during the next 50 years as they have over the past 50 years. However, the love and compassion that guides the work of pregnancy help organizations through declarations of Christ to “love your neighbor …” (see John 13:34 & 35) and “do unto others what you would have them do to you …” (see Matthew 7:12) also remains critical and steady.
My friends and I stayed at an animal sanctuary rooted in kindness and compassion. Those same traits reflect pregnancy help organizations. So do the highlights of autumn, with sunshine-style smiles and colorful encouragement through words of hope and truth. Let us continue to shower clients with compassion and love like Jesus, the creator of all seasons, all creatures, and all people.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
