A pro-life pregnancy center in North Carolina faced some opposition this week when a small group of pro-abortion people opposed its plans to relocate next door to an abortion clinic.
The Hands of Hope Pregnancy Resource Center owns land next to the Preferred Women’s Health Center abortion clinic in Raleigh; but it currently leases office space at another location, according to the News Observer.
On Tuesday, the pro-life center submitted a rezoning request to the West Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council that would allow it to move to the land it owns next to the abortion clinic, the report states. The council approved the measure despite a group of pro-abortion activists attempts to lobby against it, according to the report.
Here is more from the local news story:
People opposed to the rezoning told the neighborhood advisory group that they fear Hand of Hope, or its allies, would harass women seeking services at Preferred Women’s Health Center if allowed to locate next door.
“Those are the kinds of things they do,” said Leigh Sanders, who lives on Octavia Street. Sanders said she hopes that if the rezoning is granted, the city requires Hand of Hope to erect a fence on its border with the abortion clinic.
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“Neighborhood conflict is something that we should all be concerned with,” said Darcy Downs, an opponent of the rezoning who lives on Melbourne Road.
Tonya Baker Nelson, founder and executive director of Hand of Hope, said they have nothing to worry about. Anti-abortion activists sometimes protest at the abortion clinic, but those protesters aren’t affiliated with Hand of Hope, she said.
“We do not protest and we will not allow people to protest on our property,” Nelson said. “And we don’t need to stand on the corner to try to get people to come see us.”
Other speakers supported the rezoning.
“You have one who is, let’s call it pro-choice, and the other is pro-life. Let the woman decide,” said Dennis Hulick, who lives on Wade Park Boulevard. “They’re both right there, and they’re both about health care. So why not have them there?”
The pregnancy center’s request has two more steps to go through for approval: first, the city planning commission and then the city council, according to the report.
Abortion supporters’ opposition to the move is interesting, considering that they call themselves “pro-choice.” Abortion clinics typically offer women just one “choice” — abortion, while pregnancy resource centers offer women alternatives to abortion, including parenting and adoption resources. If pro-abortion people support giving women a “choice” to abort, give birth or make an adoption plan, they should welcome a pregnancy center that offers women alternatives to abortion.
According to its website, Hands of Hope operates two pregnancy centers in North Carolina where it offers free and confidential pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STD testing, options counseling and more. The pro-life center says it “exists solely to truly offer women and men who are experiencing an unexpected pregnancy a real choice in their decision making process.”
