(The Lion) A pregnancy resource center in Maryville, Illinois is seeing a massive influx of women despite the challenging political landscape for pro-life organizations in the state.
A Beacon of Light (ABL) sits just 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis, making it a primary destination for Missouri women who may be abortion-minded. Illinois is reportedly the No 1 state for abortion tourism.
ABL CEO Briana Exline says the center experienced about a 350% increase in clients in her first six weeks on the job when she started in January. Remarkably, she reports 100% of those women chose to parent their baby.
“We don’t know why. We don’t know how, but over those six weeks, we’ve had about a 350% increase in our clients, which has been such a huge blessing. God is working in amazing ways,” Exline told Heartlander News. “We are actually having to expand and create another coaching room because we have multiple clients coming in at the same time, which is just such a blessing.”
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Exline believes the explosive growth of mother-clients is heaven-sent.
“I don’t know if it’s because abortion has been in the news so much in Missouri lately,” Exline said. “There’s a lot of people who believe that abortion is illegal in Missouri. It’s not, but they really believe that it is, and that Illinois is where they need to go. And largely, I think it’s just God."
Tweet This: An Illinois pregnancy center near St. Louis, Mo., saw a 350% increase in clients during a 6-week period earlier this year.
Some of the women visiting ABL are confused that abortions can’t be performed there.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who’ve already gone to one pro-life pregnancy center, thinking they were going to get an abortion. Then, they come to us and tell us they’re upset that they went to that center and couldn’t get an abortion. We talk to them, we offer them resources, we pray with them, get to know them and build a personal relationship, so that they feel empowered to choose life.”
The increase in mothers has stretched ABL’s resources thin. While the community often donates baby blankets and clothes, Exline says they need prayer, money, volunteers and staff.
“What we need from our community right now, primarily, is prayer, faithful support because the power of prayer is absolutely incredible,” Exline said “And I’ll say it straightforwardly, we need money. We’ve had a drastic increase in clients, and we haven’t had a drastic increase in monetary donations.”
Exline serves as the only full-time counselor and manages the center’s 24/7 hotline from her own cell phone.
“We really need to hire more paid staff to help these women, because right now it’s just me, full time, one part time employee and amazing volunteers.”
Editor's note: This article was published by The Lion and is reprinted with permission
