{"id":194591,"date":"2019-01-30T09:35:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T15:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=194591"},"modified":"2019-01-30T20:23:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T02:23:18","slug":"knights-columbus-ultrasound-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/knights-columbus-ultrasound-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights of Columbus donate 1,000 ultrasound machines to pregnancy centers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The difference an ultrasound machine makes can frequently be the difference between a mother in a crisis pregnancy keeping or aborting her baby. It is hard to deny the humanity of an unborn baby when confronted with a face, a nose, a heart, ten fingers, and ten toes. Now, in a space that once housed an abortion<\/a> facility, a pro-life pregnancy center was given a free ultrasound by the Knights of Columbus — the 1,000th such donation in the Catholic fraternity\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n

Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic opened its doors in 2017<\/a>, two years after the abortion facility that once occupied the same space closed. The clinic, which offers prenatal care and adoption services, is served by 209 volunteers, including primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, cardiologists, an obstetrician, a pulmonologist, an orthopedic doctor, and others. Mother of Mercy Clinic also hosts Project Gabriel and Project Rachel.<\/p>\n

On January 14th, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Bishop Burbidge of the Arlington Diocese, and members of the local Knights of Columbus celebrated the milestone. Anderson described the event<\/a> as \u201chistoric\u201d and added, \u201cThere are still many more milestones ahead of us in the lives of thousands of vulnerable unborn children.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: How ultrasounds are shaping women\u2019s views on abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2009<\/a>, state and local Knights of Columbus councils have partnered with the Supreme Council to donate ultrasound units<\/a> to pregnancy centers and mobile care units. On January 14th, the Knights reached their goal of donating 1,000 units by 2019, culminating a campaign of support to over 750 pro-life pregnancy centers in all 50 US states, as well as Puerto Rico, Brazil, Canada, Jamaica, Peru, and places in Africa. Each ultrasound unit costs an average of $30,000.<\/p>\n