{"id":167876,"date":"2017-06-20T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T17:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=167876"},"modified":"2017-06-20T11:39:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T15:39:16","slug":"god-put-me-here-for-reason-says-mom-chose-life-pregnancy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/god-put-me-here-for-reason-says-mom-chose-life-pregnancy-center\/","title":{"rendered":"‘God put me here for a reason,’ says mom who chose life at pregnancy center"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Pregnancy Help News<\/a>) When Jessica Ricke walked into Women\u2019s Choice Center in 2005, it was with the intention of ending the life of her unborn child through abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, a dozen years later, Ricke is the center\u2019s director of development, playing a key role in raising $1.2 million since October of 2015\u2014the bulk of which has gone to the purchase of a mobile medical unit.<\/p>\n

Safe to say, Ricke\u2019s life today is a stark contrast to life as a single 21-year-old facing an unplanned pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not in a relationship with the father,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cGrowing up Catholic and being against abortion, when I had my own unplanned pregnancy, I became full of fear and wanted to fix the problem but didn\u2019t know what to do. I looked in the Yellow Pages for abortions. The first thing I saw was the Women\u2019s Choice Center ad.\u201d<\/p>\n

After making an appointment with the center, Ricke asked a friend who\u2019d previously aborted to drive her to the center, which is directly across from a Planned Parenthood set to shut down<\/a> at the end of June.<\/p>\n

As she and her friend neared the end of the street, Ricke saw the signage for both Women\u2019s Choice and Planned Parenthood<\/a>. Though her friend urged her to go to Planned Parenthood instead, Ricke was determined to keep her appointment at the Women\u2019s Choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea there was any difference of the two clinics, I literally walked into the Women\u2019s Choice Center prepared to terminate my pregnancy,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cI wore comfortable pants. I had someone driving me in case I didn\u2019t feel well afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

As soon as she walked through the doors of the center, Ricke felt an incredible peace, and by the time she left, she was already well on her way to choosing life for her precious child. As the center staff listened to Ricke, it became clear that abortion had felt like her only option, fearful of what others would think and worried she wouldn\u2019t be able to pay for a child.<\/p>\n

The center staff helped Ricke get connected with medical insurance and stood by her with material aid like diapers and other baby items that proved to be unexpected life-savers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so comforted and loved that I didn\u2019t want to leave,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t told anybody that I was struggling with all this pressure, to have all that calmness I didn\u2019t want to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deciding against abortion, Ricke also found the courage to tell the father of her baby about his unborn child. His response came as another welcomed surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has stood by my side ever since,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cWe are married now and have four beautiful children together. Not a day goes by that I don\u2019t think how different my life would be if I had not went to the Women\u2019s Choice Center for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last 10 years, as Ricke grew into her roles as a wife and mother, she also pursued a career outside the home, becoming an aquatics and sports director at the local YMCA.<\/p>\n

In 2015, a decade after her unplanned pregnancy, Ricke learned that the Women\u2019s Choice Center was planning a capital campaign to fund a mobile medical unit offering free ultrasounds to women in the Quad Cities area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, we can\u2019t support them financially, but I can give them my story and maybe that will help them get the funds they need,\u201d Ricke said.<\/p>\n

When Ricke walked through the doors of the center, the memories of being a frightened, pregnant, young woman came flooding back. Once she shared her story with the center\u2019s director, Vicki Tyler, Ricke was asked to pray about speaking at their upcoming fundraiser and even coming to work at the center itself.<\/p>\n

After discussing it with her husband, Ricke agreed that this opportunity came from God. Launching the capital campaign in October 2015, Ricke and the center exceeded their fundraising goal in just six months.<\/p>\n

The mobile unit, dubbed \u201cGrace,\u201d and developed in partnership with Save the Storks, has been a godsend to more remote areas of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of communities that do not have the resources they need,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cWe needed to get to these women. We have had women come to us to get a pack of diapers by bus two and a half hours with their baby and two and a half hours back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides their mobile unit, Women\u2019s Choice has also played an active role in connecting women with Abortion Pill Reversal<\/a>, a nationwide network of over 350 medical providers. Since Women\u2019s Choice is right across the street from the soon-to-be-shuttered Planned Parenthood, they\u2019ve hung a banner across their front door saying, \u201cIf you have taken the ABORTION PILL, it is possible to REVERSE this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

That strategy is working, Ricke said, noting that several women have seen the sign and called the office the same day they took the first pill in the RU-486 abortion regimen offered at Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

Having come so close to abortion herself 10 years ago, Ricke now shares her testimony with groups and churches in the area as part of a \u201cGrace Tour\u201d with the center\u2019s mobile ultrasound unit\u2014often with her son, Elijah, in tow.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to raise a family and be a part of an amazing ministry about families is huge,\u201d Ricke said. \u201cGod put me here for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Pregnancy Help News<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Pregnancy Help News) When Jessica Ricke walked into Women\u2019s Choice Center in 2005, it was with the intention of ending the life of her unborn child through abortion. Now, a dozen years later, Ricke is the center\u2019s director of development, playing a key role in raising $1.2 million since October of 2015\u2014the bulk of which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":81011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n'God put me here for a reason,' says mom who chose life at pregnancy center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cI felt so comforted and loved that I didn\u2019t want to leave.... To have all that calmness... 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