USA (MNN) — 13 abortion clinics recently agreed to refer clients to Bethany Christian Services.
Last summer, Bethany representatives headed out to Queens, New York to visit a 1.5 mile stretch known as "abortion row." 13 abortion clinics lie within the row's borders.
Unlike many other groups, Bethany representatives were not there to protest, but to reach out.
Bethany's Natalie Koch visited multiple clinics, only to find that most of the clinic employees were uneducated on the topic of adoption. "It is incredible to learn the very little knowledge many have on adoption," Koch noted on a recent blog post. "How can it be expected that they pass on ‘adoption as an option' to their clients when so many of the workers are completely unaware of what adoption looks like?"
"I was able to recognize how imperative it is that we continue to reach out to these clinics to offer them material on adoption, as many women who enter their doors seek options," Koch said in an earlier post about her time in Queens. "These workers, as was expressed to me, could only go so far as to tell the women to open the phone book or call ‘311' for information when they are seeking adoption information."
Many women come into the clinics when they are too far along in their pregnancies and are thus turned away. Others just express a desire for alternative options. Seldom do the clinics know enough to help them with other options.
Koch was able to converse with several clinic staff on the topic. One clinic even put information about Bethany on the counter as they dialogued.
In a recent report, Bethany announced that since Koch's visit, all 13 clinics have agreed to refer clients to Bethany who are interested in adoption or who are too far along in their pregnancies. They have already received several referrals.
Pray for the women Bethany interacts with as a result of this publicity. Pray that Bethany would not only be able to provide a superior alternative to what these women would find on "abortion row," but that they would express the love of Christ as well. Pray that the young women coming to them would encounter Christ and choose life.
