Shelbyville | Through its Psalm 139 Project, the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) placed an ultrasound machine at a pro-life pregnancy resource center in Shelbyville in November.
Family Life Center has locations in Effingham and Newton, and recently opened the Shelbyville center. Many of its volunteer workers are members of New Hope Church, an IBSA congregation.
Psalm 139 Project Director Rachel Wiles, who is also ERLC deputy chief of staff, spoke at the IBSA Annual Meeting prior to the dedication.
“Abortion clinics closed in Tennessee,” the Nashville resident said at the dedication. “But then today I was in Marion, Illinois, and I drove down the road to Carbondale because I wanted to see where the abortion facility in Memphis moved to… I know that you guys are surrounded (by abortion facilities) in Illinois.
“We want to come alongside you, and to place (ultrasound) machines in what we’re calling abortion destination states. So we have placed one here and one in Freeport, Illinois this year,” Wiles said.
Research has shown that women are much more likely to continue their pregnancy if they are offered the option to view their baby’s ultrasound image in a supportive pregnancy center, Baptist Press reported.
Psalm 139 Project raises money to provide ultrasound equipment and training to pregnancy resource centers. Wiles told messengers at the IBSA gathering in Marion that 100% of money donated toward the project goes to funding these ultrasound placements and subsequent trainings.
The project funded two or three machine placements per year, until December 2020, when the ERLC set a goal to place 50 ultrasound machines in pregnancy centers by January 2023.
As a result, more than 85 ultrasound machines have been placed to date. There were 12 machine placed in 2023, including the first joint placement with the International Mission Board (IMB) in Southeast Asia.
–IB staff with additional information from Baptist Press