Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new program sponsored by the national Knights of Columbus has helped its first pregnancy center obtain an ultrasound machine. The program is meant to provide pregnancy centers with the tools to help women considering an abortion see their baby and choose pro-life alternatives.
The Supreme Office of the Knights of Columbus and the Florida State Council of the Knights of Columbus yesterday donated $44,050 dollars to the Women's Help Center in Jacksonville, Florida, for the purchase of a new 4-D ultrasound machine.
The donated resulted from the pilot program started by Supreme Knight, Carl Anderson, to help the centers lower the number of abortions that occur.
Roy Hatten, CEO of the Women's Help Center, which has three centers in the Jacksonville area, told LifeNews.com he was thankful for the donation.
"Jacksonville is ranked third in Florida the highest number of surgical abortions, with over 8,400 babies killed per year. Our centers are strategically located among four of the five abortion mills in our city," Hatten told LifeNews.com. "We are literally with-in blocks of the busiest" abortion centers in town.
"Our newest center is scheduled to open within weeks and is located next door to one of our local Planned Parenthood offices," he said. "We are extremely blessed to have so much community support, and now, with the addition of this new ultrasound machine, we can help change the minds and hearts of many more women in our town."
Anderson told LifeNews.com that the date of the donation, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed 50 million abortions, is no coincidence.
He said pregnancy centers have been successful in helping more than 80 percent of women decide against an abortion after seeing an ultrasound image of their unborn child.
"The sophistication of today's medical technology provides a 'window on the womb,'" Anderson said. "Even from the early stages of pregnancy, a mother can see her developing child, hear the baby's heartbeat, and to recognize the miracle of new life within her."
The Knights of Columbus ultrasound project seeks to provide medically certified pro-life pregnancy centers with the modern technology to monitor the health of babies in utero, and to allow mothers to visually experience that development.