Justmonths after vandals broke the building’s windows, a pro-life healthcare centerin Texas has been vandalized for a second time.
Austin LifeCare is a healthcare center that has been operating in Austin, Texas, for over 30 years. They work to meet the needs of those faced with unplanned pregnancies. Services are provided free of charge and include things like ultrasounds, resource provision, childbirth and parenting classes, and more.
In June, the center took over a building that was operated as an abortion clinic by Whole Women’s Health for 13 years. Shortly after the organization moved in, vandals knocked the building’s windows out with rocks. The latest episode of vandalism saw the building spray-painted with the words “liars” and “fake clinic” right after the center had repainted.
AustinSchoonover, Austin LifeCare’s CEO, says that he isn’t surprised:
After all, we had a rock thrown through the window just a couple of months back. We are in Austin. We are fighting for women and their babies. This just comes with the territory.
Schoonover went on to explain that while the vandalism is a problem, the larger problem is the misleading information being spread about how the pro-life center is operating in their new building:
[F]olks think that we are trying to lure women into our clinic by convincing them that we provide abortions, then trying to strong-arm them into keeping their babies. This is the farthest from the truth.
Allwomen who come into the center are immediately informed that the organization does notprovide or refer clients for abortions.
Thecenter has a medical team that includes a registered nurse, a women’shealthcare nurse practitioner, and three registered diagnostic medicalsonographers. In addition to the services they already offer, the clinic willstart offering first-trimester prenatal care and abortion pill reversal laterthis fall.
Schoonoverconcluded:
As for the ‘fake clinic’ accusation, I invite anyone to come down and see us, meet our RN, nurse practitioner, and licensed sonographers to see for themselves whether or not we are a fake clinic.
Roughly 2,750 pro-life pregnancy centers provide similar services around the United States, and all are vulnerable to being slandered for their stance on life.
Photo credit: James McNellis via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
