Woman’s New Life Clinic celebrated

Entangled by fear, confusion and sometimes thinking they have contacted the right place to have an abortion, numerous women with unplanned pregnancies reach out to Woman’s New Life Clinic.

After receiving education, counseling and essential support services and space to think about their pregnancy, they become confident women who often choose to give life to their babies and discover new possibilities for themselves.

The clinic celebrated the dedication of its staff, volunteers and supporters during its recent “Saved in Hope: An Evening with Bishop (Michael G.) Duca” at Drusilla Seafood in Baton Rouge.

Allison Millet Daigle, CEO of Woman’s New Life Clinic, said more than 10 years ago the community identified a need in the Baton Rouge area for life-affirming care and services for women in unplanned pregnancies and struggling from past abortions.

“For decades, Delta abortion clinic claimed tens of thousands of lives and in effect destroying the lives of countless woman and families,” said Daigle. “And our board of directors watched, unfortunately as women lined up in the blistering heat, rain, the cold and were lined up like cattle outside of Delta Clinic. With no support, no cell phones allowed, all lifelines cut off.”

When office space became available in the building next door to Delta Clinic, Woman’s New Life Clinic moved in, Daigle said. Staff members met with women coming to Delta Clinic on the days doctors performed abortions and allowed the mothers to see their child through free ultrasounds and receive support.

“And they learned they could, in fact, continue their pregnancy, and we would be with them every step of the way,” emphasized Daigle.

In 2015 a fulltime counselor was hired, which enabled the clinic to be open five days a week to provide more comprehensive services. Through the years, Woman’s New Life Clinic added the Creighton Model Fertility Care System as well as the abortion reversal pill.

In 2021, the clinic learned that its neighbor, a pro-life OBGYN, had retired, and the building was available. Through supporters’ financial gifts, the clinic purchased the doctor’s facility.

“And this building will allow us to double our clinic,” Daigle said.

In May 2022, when information leaked the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, and the following June when the Supreme Court officially overturned the decision, churches and pregnancy centers and clinics were attacked.

“Like ours, and on the night of July 11, 2022, (so called) ‘Jane’s Revenge’ did an attack on Baton Rouge. Their intent was to shut us down,” said Daigle, who showed pictures of the building and surrounding area littered with red graffiti.

“But ladies and gentlemen, we will never be stopped or slowed down. On the contrary we are fortifying our effort to dignify, protect and care for the most vulnerable – women and their unborn children,” said Daigle, her voice filled with resolve.

Within hours, the clinic opened its doors and supporters donated time and resources to restore the building. Security efforts have also been increased.

The clinic remains truthful and transparent to show women what it is about and how women can be helped, according to Daigle. She then showed video clips of women who shared their success stories after contacting Woman’s New Life Clinic.

While the pro-abortion population utilizes the word “choice” and gives it a negative connotation, Woman’s New Life Clinic embraces the word, according to Shannon McCormick, the clinic’s nurse practitioner.

“At Woman’s New Life Clinic, we embrace choice as a God-given gift and responsibility. Choice is part of our everyday thoughts and actions from the moment we awaken,” said McCormick. “When a woman in Louisiana is faced with an unplanned pregnancy, she still has choices.”

She noted the clinic offers women the resources and information they need to make life-affirming decisions.

Bishop Duca opened his talk by referring to Psalm 139 in which is written: “You formed me in your inmost being; you knit me from my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.”

“That wonder of God sometimes is so wonderful that it’s fearful, it overwhelms us with ‘the fear of the Lord,’ ” Bishop Duca said. “And I think tonight we are all rejoicing in the many good things that are happening. But we always live with an appreciation for life, that we are fearfully, wonderfully made.”

It is good for pro-life advocates to come together and remind themselves because “we are in a changing landscape now,” according to the bishop.

Bishop Duca, a Dallas native, had just entered the seminary in 1970 when the campaign was launched to constitutionally challenge the Texas criminal statute prohibiting doctors from performing abortions. This led to the passage of Roe v. Wade.

“This has been in the culture, it’s been around, in our conversation. It’s been in all of my life as a priest,” Bishop Duca said.

From early on, there was a strong pro-life dynamic in Dallas, which Bishop Duca was involved with.

“With the overturning of Roe v. Wade I find myself rejoicing and watching things happen that I wasn’t sure I would see, or at least see this soon,” the bishop said.

The expansion of the Woman’s New Life Clinic is “literally a breath of fresh air breathing life into the world and the country,” Bishop Duca said.

The “culture of death” promoted abortion as a cure, even referred to as a medical practice as part of an automatic response, and the culture of life was pushed aside. Hope was given in a strange, perverted way, said the bishop.

“Now that it’s been taken away there’s a fear – what’s going to happen? In fact, this has turned into a kind of panic,” he said.

And underneath all the bitterness and anger is human fear.

“We have an angry animal. An angry dog. And an angry dog, or trapped dog is dangerous; they are panicked,” said the bishop.

In human terms, pregnant women who have no resources and nowhere to go believe abortion is the only way out, the bishop pointed out.

“It seems to me that this is our ministry,” he said. “We should center ourselves in that kind of ministry that reaches out and provides that. That’s what Jesus does. He shows us the way of salvation, shows us the way that we can overcome our sinfulness. He shows us a kind of freedom, the freedom of sons and daughters of God. And of course, it is not the freedom to do whatever we want. In Jesus it is the freedom of love.”

For more information about Woman’s New Life Clinic, visit womansnewlife.com.