Community Impact
The Need
According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2005 46.8% of high school students had had sexual intercourse. The authors of the survey conclude from this and other reported unsafe behavior that, “Many high school students continue to engage in behaviors that place them at risk for the leading causes of mortality and morbidity.” The high rates of sexual intercourse among today’s youth lead to high rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The National Vital Statistics Reports (2007) by the CDC show that approximately a third of young women in the United States become pregnant before age twenty. In Guilford County, the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics reports that in 2007, 397 children were born to mothers aged 18 and under, and 1,772 children were born to mothers aged 19 to 24. In contrast, it reports that 2,256 induced abortions were performed on residents of Guilford County in 2007, and women aged 20 to 24 had the highest abortion rate of all age groups in the state from 1998 to 2007.
While many young people face pregnancy-related decisions, others cope with their own health issues that result from unwise choices. The CDC reported in March 2008 that one in four teenage girls has an STD (CDC Press Release, March 11, 2008). North Carolina has one of the highest rates in the country of chlamydia and gonorrhea (STD Surveillance 2006, CDC). Young women and men within reach of Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center need an alternative to the dangerous lifestyles that put them at risk for STDs and pregnancy.
Our Impact
During 2008 Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center served over 700 clients in nearly 1,500 appointments. Approximately 95% of clients begin their relationships with the Care Center by having pregnancy tests, and approximately 70% of those have positive test results. Clients with positive tests receive education about the options of adoption and parenting plus information about the risks of abortion. In addition, they are offered an array of services, including parenting classes, Bible studies, community resources, maternity clothes, baby clothes, baby equipment, and limited ultrasounds.
Clients with negative tests often show readiness to evaluate their lifestyle choices since they do not have the stress of pregnancy-related decisions. Relationship Reality offers those women and others in the community, particularly college students, information on how to define and live healthy and godly relationships. Sometimes a client who has a negative pregnancy test will return several months later for another pregnancy test. Only about 12% of return client visits are for repeat pregnancy tests, but these clients may appear time after time, trapped in an unhealthy lifestyle of dangerous risks. Thankfully, Relationship Reality has made an impact on many of these women.
Expecting God to provide teachable moments to share the good news of Jesus Christ in three areas of interest, Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center offers the following.
- Prevention (Great to Wait, Relationship Reality)
- Intervention (pregnancy tests, information about abortion risks and alternatives, limited ultrasounds, baby and maternity clothes and equipment, parenting classes and Bible studies)
- Restoration (Bible studies and peer advocacy for those who suffer from past abortion)
We do not perform or refer for abortions. Instead, we offer services that affirm physical, spiritual, and abundant life for women and men in Guilford County.