Stacy’s 21, alone, and unexpectedly pregnant.
She’s in college, working two part-time jobs to pay rent and tuition, doing her best to prepare for a future career.
She knows she’s not ready to raise a child, but what can she do? Who will help her?
Since she’s a student at St. Cloud State University in central Minnesota, it turns out she doesn’t even need to leave campus.
The Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) sits just on the north edge of the university’s campus, opening its doors to community members and college students alike.
The PRC offers free pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing for more than 15,000 college students at St. Cloud State University.
The clinic is accessible, confidential, and staffed by caring volunteers and medical professionals who believe in the power and love of Jesus.
“When I was 21 years old, I walked into the PRC scared to death,” Stacy* says.
She was one of millions of women across the nation facing an unintended pregnancy.
She was alone and had no health insurance. But the staff at the PRC welcomed her, gave her Christ-centered medical resources, and talked with her about the intense emotions and life changes that come with such a situation.
“Although I was young and my pregnancy was unplanned, after leaving the PRC I felt supported,” Stacy adds.
She chose to keep her unborn child, no matter the cost, because she knew that the loving people she had met at the PRC would help her however she needed.
Stacy is only one of many clients that the PRC cares for every year.
College students are at particularly high risk for STDs, unplanned pregnancies, and abortions.
Because college is often the first time students are away from home, many young people start to experiment with boundaries and relationships in ways they haven’t before.
But they may have very limited knowledge of the consequences, so this experimentation contributes to over two million unintended pregnancies each year.
When a young woman like Stacy discovers that she is pregnant, she faces a myriad of questions.
How will she keep working?
How will she finish school?
How will she explain the situation to her friends and family?
How can she just make it go away?
College-aged women seek out more than one third of all abortions in the United States. When faced with the idea of raising a child while still attending college, many women are daunted, with good reason.
If they seek help from local pregnancy centers like Planned Parenthood, these women may be told that abortion is their best option.
But at the PRC, students from St. Cloud State University hear a different story. Women like Stacy find counseling and medical services that offer them the support they need to keep and raise their children—and they hear the Gospel message.
“It is exactly what I needed in that moment,” Stacy remembers.
But the center still faces opposition from the nearby campus community.
The Women’s Center at St. Cloud State University frequently protests the work of the PRC, trying to steer students away from using the center’s services.
Because the PRC offers Christian counseling and ultrasound services instead of abortions, the Women’s Center claims that the center is a “fake health clinic.” They urge women like Stacy to turn to the abortionists at Planned Parenthood for their pregnancy needs.
The staff at the PRC do their best to stay unruffled by the protests, keeping their doors open despite opposition.
It’s worth it when they see someone like Stacy decide to keep her baby.
Stacy’s daughter is now thirteen years old. “She is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Stacy says, reflecting on how differently her pregnancy might have turned out without the PRC staff’s help.
The PRC’s presence grows stronger every year, reaching students from several colleges, universities, and high schools throughout central Minnesota.
But, like many small crisis pregnancy centers, the PRC needs continual help, encouragement, and prayer to stay open.
Please consider giving to this Christ-centered ministry today by visiting their website at www.preghelp.com/.
Or search for a crisis pregnancy center in your area and partner with them to change the lives of young women in your city!
*Name changed to protect confidentiality.
