Kayla Kessinger had just arrived at the front of the Walmart checkout line when she noticed the cashier was having a terrible day. Concerned by how miserable she looked, Kessinger started a conversation.
As it turned out, the cashier, “Sydney,” had just found out she was pregnant and was in the throes of severe morning sickness.
Kessinger congratulated her on the gift of new life and asked how she could help.
“She responded in a very discouraged way,” Kessinger recalled. “She went on to tell me that she wasn’t sure what kind of gift this was, that she didn’t even know if she was going to have the apartment she was living in for much longer. She wasn’t getting the hours she needed at Walmart. She wasn’t sure how she was going to feed or clothe this baby.”
Fortunately, Kessinger’s professional work focuses on helping women with all of these concerns and more. While talking to Sydney, Kessinger pulled out her phone and found the HerPLAN.org directory of more than 5,000 listings for life-affirming assistance.
One of the listings that met Sydney’s needs was a local church baby pantry that Kessinger had helped set up the previous year.
This was a full circle moment for Kessinger. She was directly witnessing the pro-life safety net in action at the grocery checkout line.
The previous year, she had met a local couple who wanted to serve moms in need but didn’t know how. The couple took the concern to prayer and with the support of Her PLAN, figured out how to provide their community’s first baby pantry in their church.
“It was just a really beautiful picture of what the pro-life movement can do and does on a daily basis in our country,” Kessinger said.
Since 2020, Her PLAN has built and maintained a directory of thousands of vetted, local pro-life assistance providers that spans 29 states. These assistance providers fall into what Her PLAN calls its “7 categories of care.” Those categories include: material and legal support; recovery and mental health; care coordination and pregnancy support; women’s health; prenatal diagnosis; finances, work and education; and care for children.
Her PLAN created these categories after reviewing information from the Guttmacher Institute regarding the reasons women typically have abortions.
“Our goal is to really connect and grow the pro-life safety net,” Kessinger said. “We realize that women don’t choose abortion because it’s something that they want to do, but women choose abortion because it’s something they feel is their best or their only option. And so at Her PLAN, our goal is to ensure that women have access to and are aware of the resources that are available across multiple categories of care that really contribute specifically to her situation. Every woman is unique, every story is unique, and the situations and the circumstances that she faces are unique.”
Kessinger said that unlike the abortion industry, Her PLAN provides women with options and empowerment.
“The abortion industry wants us to believe that abortion is this one size fits all solution to the problems that she faces,” Kessinger said. “But in reality, abortion has never and will never help a woman who’s struggling with addiction find freedom. It’s never going to help a woman who doesn’t know where she’s going to lay her head down at night, have a safe place to sleep for herself and for her child. Abortion’s never going to help a woman escape an abusive partner. But the pro-life movement can and the pro-life movement does. And our goal, our heart, is that we can create opportunities for organizations, whether they’re assistance providers or community organizations like churches, to collaborate for comprehensive care for moms and their families.”
Her PLAN’s directory of resources extends beyond America’s thousands of traditional pro-life pregnancy help organizations. It includes pro-life attorneys, mental health care providers, childcare providers, car mechanics, transportation and housing providers. Her PLAN’s state coordinators spend time in communities, meeting providers, building relationships, identifying service gaps, and helping those communities draw upon their unique talents to fill those gaps.
The directory serves as an invaluable tool for pregnancy help organizations and leaders within the pro-life community.
Kessinger described one scenario in which Her PLAN was able to help a woman who heard the call to open a pregnancy help center. The location of the center was in need of extensive repairs, including a new paint job and new flooring. The Her PLAN state coordinator for the area was able to identify a local business owner who donated all of the materials and supplies for the project and sent his entire construction team to the location to install the new flooring.
Countless businesses and church groups have stepped up in similar but unique ways. One automotive business has offered free car maintenance days to families in need. One group of women at a church creates freezer meals for foster families when they have a new child placed in their home.
“It’s hard to pinpoint just one area that people are serving in, because every community is so different and the needs are so different, and then the gifts and the strengths of the individuals in that community are unique,” Kessinger said. “And so that’s the fun part, is being able to pull all of these things together to help meet the needs of vulnerable families.”
Kessinger says that those interested in being a part of Her PLAN’s pro-life safety net can get in touch at herplan.org/contact/.
“I think that it’s really important for everyone to realize that there is a place for everyone in the pro-life safety net,” Kessinger said. “Every person is uniquely equipped with specific gifts and skills and strengths that are really important for vulnerable moms and their families to have their needs met. So whether you are a mechanic that likes to help people by fixing their cars, or whether you are a teacher, a Sunday school teacher, or whether you’re a grandmother who is part of a knitting circle, there’s a place for you in the pro-life safety unit.”
Recent Comments