{"id":304688,"date":"2024-01-06T09:17:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T15:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=304688"},"modified":"2024-01-05T16:37:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T22:37:17","slug":"daughter-pregnant-pro-life-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/daughter-pregnant-pro-life-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"When her daughter became unexpectedly pregnant, it birthed in her a new pro-life calling"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Carla Ludwig had always been active in the pro-life movement, working with Grand Rapids Right to Life<\/a>, participating in the 40 Days for Life<\/a> campaign, and serving as a board member with Life Matters Worldwide<\/a>. She finished dental school but when she gave birth to six children in eight years, she chose to be a stay-at-home mom. For her, motherhood was always a priority.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When her youngest child became pregnant while a freshman in college, she knew her pro-life convictions would come under scrutiny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ludwig told Live Action News, \u201cMy daughter was so young at the time and sometimes you just focus on the situation. She could have aborted at any time, and I wouldn\u2019t have known. Yet she decided to have the baby; there was never any discussion about abortion. I knew then that I had done my job in instilling the value of life to my family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But the road was challenging for the teen mother. Many of her daughter\u2019s friends were uncomfortable with her decision to parent her baby at a young age and she lost friends. For a while, Ludwig\u2019s daughter and granddaughter lived at home with her parents, and then her daughter moved to Kentucky to live with her sister.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe would work to pay her bills and I helped her out as well,\u201d Ludwig said. \u201cBut she was struggling to make enough money to make ends meet. She realized she needed better skills and needed to return to college so she could get a secure, well-paying job. I decided to help fund her college expenses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hope for Moms springs from a desire to help single mothers attain marketable skills<\/b><\/p>\n

While Ludwig\u2019s daughter was in the honors program and completed her degree requirements early, Ludwig noticed the challenges and barriers that single mothers experience when trying to attend college or vocational school… and an idea began to take shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ludwig said, \u201cIt\u2019s tough to work all day, attend classes in person or even online when you\u2019re juggling childcare as a single mother and a demanding job. There\u2019s a feeling of isolation and of being overwhelmed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gaps in social services, Ludwig noted, can limit coverage for basic needs like childcare assistance. Ludwig saw that a lack of financial and emotional support for women who have chosen life often hinders single mothers from bettering their circumstances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClose to half of single moms live in poverty, which has adverse and lasting effects on their children\u2019s development and emotional well-being,\u201d Ludwig said. \u201cAcquiring marketable skills to get better paying jobs allow for more stability and less stress on the family unit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With a mission to remove those obstacles to women fulfilling their potential, Ludwig launched Hope for Single Moms<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n