“The truth is the truth even if no one believes it, and a lie is a lie even if everyone believes it.” ~ Archbishop Fulton Sheen
The video I’d like to share with you is courtesy of a group called: ShoutMyStory.org (https://www.shoutmystory.org/) and gives a platform to women and couples to share their life affirming stories. This platform not only challenges the goal of another platform called “ShoutYourAbortion.com” – but it also gives voice to the reality that choosing life in difficult situations is heroic and deserves to be celebrated and shared.
The video is found on YouTube and was released roughly 2 months ago. It is 28 minutes long which I know is – a bit long. But I highly reccommend it if you can spare the time. Its an effective tool to share especially for people who are not as familar with places like Next Step Pregnancy Services and what it is we really do and what it is mainstream media tries to say we do.
Some of the images show clinics being vandalized and being picketed – and as you may recall, back in 2022, Next Step was also vandalized, windows broken, and picketed. It was quite a cleanup effort (Thank you Haider Construction!) and though its been a few years I’m still reminded on occasion of the vitriol spat towards our clinic and our staff online, in person, and on political platforms.
Much like the clinics in this video, Next Step Pregnancy Services is an Accredited Medical Clinic with licensed and registered medical professionals with a Medical Director as well as a governing board providing oversight and leadership.
We are all trained and certified to do the work we do on a daily basis. We are busy and booked solid. I could not be more proud of the organization we have built together.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and thank you, as always, for the support and encouragement you all show for our organization – going on 28 years now!
Photo is of Amillio and mom Nina, one of our NS Babies, courtesy of Glimmer Glass Photo
P.S. Save the Date! This year’s annual Gala will be held on Saturday September 19th! Details to come
P.P.S. Next Step is hiring! Looking for another Registered Nurse to join the team! If interested, please email heather@nextstepnw.com
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ~ Matthew 6:21 NIV
Nothing says “Thinking of You” like a gift of abortion pills! Yes, you read that right. I saw this “article” before Christmas and almost wrote about it right then but decided against it. Why put a damper on one of the most beautiful, peaceful, and enjoyable times of the year!
Well, I still felt I needed to share it with you. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a beautifully wrapped box of abortion pills. Sound crazy? It is. This was a headline I came across on Social Media from a group called Shout Your Abortion. The headline was literally, “Give the gift of abortion pills”, all tied up in pretty boxes. And it made me pause. What an utterly terrible “gift” to give. The deadly ability to slaughter another human being, your own child no less. How much more barbaric can it get?
When I think of Christmas gift ideas for my beautiful daughters, it’s such a joyous time for me. Looking around and searching for those small gifts I know she’ll love and laugh about. She’ll know the person who gave it to her knows her, sees her, listens to her when she speaks her heart and about what she enjoys, what makes her laugh. She’ll know she is cherished. Those are the gifts I long to give my daughters.
So when I saw this article suggesting such a thing as a supply of the abortion pill be lifted up as a gift for a loved one it made me a tad nauseous.
My daughters are my treasures, who I protect and celebrate and lavish love upon. They are where my heart lies. I want only good for them as I’m sure all parents pray for their children. I want to give them gifts that uplift them and bring them happiness.
Anyone who would believe that a gift of abortion pills would cause anything other than destruction, isolation, and death is as lost and in need of mercy as those celebrating and “shouting their abortions”.
Next Step has the fierce heart, the team, the training, and the resources to be such a beacon of hope to those lost individuals. Thanks be to God – and you!
~ Heather M Vasquez
P.S. Save the Date! The 2026 Annual Gala will be held on Saturday September 19th!
“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” – Proverbs 24:11
What is an abortion abolitionist?
The term abortion abolitionist is not a new one. In fact, the movement dates back to the sixties and seventies. But to be honest, up until very recently, I had not heard the expression.
Simply put – Abortion Abolitionists believe that “the only truly pro-life position is to pass laws that recognize the crime of abortion is murder and that all who participate in abortion, including the mother, should face the criminal penalty for murder,” (https://www.texasallianceforlife.org/the-abolitionists-are-wrong)
To put that another way; abortion is the intentional murder of a living human being, in the womb, and all those who have a hand in that act, the provider, the nurses, the mother, bear guilt for the crime and therefore should be criminally punished.
So what does Next Step believe?
No one is immune to the consequences of abortion. I am a firm believer that moral neutrality is not an option. You are either on the side of truth….or not.
Do we believe that abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being? Yes.
Do we believe the act of abortion is morally reprehensible and should not be allowed? Yes.
Do we believe that a mother who knowingly permits an abortion to be performed on her unborn child should be punished?
Here is where lines that are drawn begin to distort.
Every week our nurses see women who are pregnant. Some, I’ll say most, are happy to parent, planned or not. Some are not happy. They are scared, overwhelmed, confused, and more. They aren’t sure they want to parent but more than that they are not sure they can. For a myriad of reasons. They are young, still in school, unmarried, perhaps not employed or if employed they have no health insurance, they have other children and can barely meet their needs, they are not in a safe relationship with the father of the baby or not in a relationship at all!
They may decide that abortion is their only option. There is nothing else and no one else to “Rescue them from being led away to death”.
Pregnancy Help Clinics like your local one – Next Step Pregnancy Services – are in a unique position to see the impact on women contemplating abortion and possibly, sadly, choosing abortion.
Our nurses are in the thick of it. Deep in the reeds and heart of these stories. Sowing what might yet live.
So, in their indecision they find Next Step Pregnancy Services. Where are our nurses become a safe harbor for them. To be heard. To be encouraged. To be calmed. To be told the truth.
So what does Next Step believe? That we are called to love those who seek support and let mercy guide our words.
“Compassion, not punishment, is the path that leads women in unplanned pregnancies to healing, restoration, and life.”(pregnancyhelpnews.com, Heartbeat International, L. Bourne, 11/06/2025)
Pregnancy help clinics like Next Step, are where “that path begins, offering hope in place of fear, support in place of shame, and life in place of death.”
Thank you for continuing to stand with us. ~ Heather M Vasquez P.S. Save the Date! Our annual Gala is on Saturday September 19th, 2026!
“Get me! I’m givin’ out wings!” – Nick the bartender, It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946
It would not be Christmas, at least in my book, without watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. So we did, of course, on the big screen too – which was beautiful. As I left the theatre I pondered a scene, a very early one, in fact, within the first five minutes of the film. I’ve seen this movie more times than I can count but for some reason this scene jumped out. The scene opens with “Joseph”, a senior angel, speaking with a fellow, unnamed angel, about whose turn it is to be sent to earth to answer prayers. It seems that the angel “at bat” is Clarence Oddbody, who the unnamed angel refers to as having the “IQ of a rabbit”, to which Joseph, the senior angel, replied, “Yes, but he’s got the faith of a child. Simple.”
The angel Clarence, is sent for. Joseph explains that there are a lot of people on earth praying for a man named George Bailey. “At exactly 10:45pm earth time that man will be thinking seriously of throwing away God’s greatest gift.” – says Joseph, to which Clarence, without hesitation, replies, “Oh dear dear, his life!”
Clarence knew immediately what God’s greatest gift was and is. Life!
I know this is most likely not news to any of you reading this but it is in fact a concept in question for some. In post-World War II the view of life was without question – precious. And today, as we are at the cusp of a new year once again, let’s be ever faithful to this certainty, as Clarence was, that life is God’s greatest gift. Next Step will enter into this new year defending those most vulnerable and celebrating new and changed lives. Thank you for helping us to prosper in 2025 and for keeping watch over Next Step and all those we will serve in the coming year.
Happy New Year ~ Heather Vasquez
P.S. Several years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Karolyn Grimes, who at the age of 6, played George Bailey’s youngest daughter Zuzu in the film. She had this to say about my favorite actor, Mr. Jimmy Stewart, “He really was tall, six feet four inches tall. And he was so very kind.” Then she autographed our Christmas ornament and sent us on our way with a hug.
Dear Friends, Please enjoy this beautiful letter from our nurse manager, Barb Millett.
I pray this finds you all in the midst of a joyous Nativity season, as we await the arrival of our incarnate Lord! I am thankful from our vantage point in the year 2025 when we reflect on Christ’s birth we can see the WHOLE of God’ s salvation story: How the baby born in the manger was the long-awaited Messiah who had come to save mankind through his birth, death, resurrection and ascension.
It can take a long time (sometimes a lifetime) before we get to see the whole of a story. Many times, we never get to see the whole but rather just a snippet here and there. I always consider it a miracle when God reveals part of His plans to us – and I would like to continue sharing this miracle with you:
I would like to continue the story I began to tell at the Gala this past fall. I met Ashley, almost 4.5 years ago: she was 19, pregnant, and very distressed. She was unexpectedly pregnant and didn’t know what to do, especially having already gone through the trauma of a previous abortion.
I told you about how after a month of communication and 3 scans to see her baby grow – she had decided to keep her baby, and she and her boyfriend traveled east together. I mentioned that this spring she reached out to tell me their daughter had turned 3; she and her boyfriend had rededicated their lives to Christ and were set to be baptized in April; They were to be married in November. They WERE baptized and ARE married – and are now expecting another baby – glory to God! In a more recent message, Ashely shared, “the more I have been growing my relationship with God, the more I have felt called to get into the prolife movement somehow. I feel like I went through what I did to inspire and help other women one day.” What a blessing, to see this story unfold. But suppose we only saw the doubt, we only saw that initial loss of life… Please don’t lose hope! “Let nothing deprive you of hope” –St. Nektarios of Aegina.
This Christmas season, remember Christ, remember what He has already accomplished out of great love for us. Let us continue to labor for Christ but never despair! “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV
From all of us here at Next Step – we wish you all a blessed Christmas! In gratitude – Heather M Vasquez
“If you live today you breathe in nihilism. In or out of the Church, it’s the gas you breathe.” ~ Flannery O’Connor, August 28, 1955
“Nihilism; a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.” ~ Merriam-webster.com
So the question I pose today is: Is nihilistic motherhood the new norm? In a word, no. At least for me, and, I believe many of you reading this, because if you are on my mailing list you most likely agree that motherhood is love, sacrifice, joy, exhaustion, heartache, and delight all mixed into a sacred ball.
I recently saw an advertisement for a movie called “Die My Love”, released earlier this month and it got me curious. The premise follows a young woman who struggles with her mental state after moving into a rural home with her partner and giving birth to their baby. While he works outside the home, seemingly oblivious to her rapid downward spiral, she rips wallpaper from the walls with her bare hands, licks a window pane, pours soap on the floor, paces, crawls, throws things, screams and generally unravels. Very obviously signs of postpartum depression. Which is one of the film’s themes. It is a heartbreaking portrayal of motherhood. Fictional? Yes. Realistic? Somewhat. Concerning? Most certainly. Grace’s fate is rather ambiguous and I won’t spoil the ending for you.
It got me recalling some other recent films that also explored the “underbelly” of motherhood and boy was it bleak.
“Nightbitch” (pardon my language) a 2021 novel, made into film, centers around “the struggle for a woman to retain her identity as an artist after becoming a stay-at-home mother.” (sheknows.com, A. Kelly, 11/7/25) So overwhelmed with exhaustion, isolation, and the “loss of self”, the protagonist, an unnamed woman referred to by her husband as “see film title”, begins to physically transform into a dog as a response to her growing frustrations. Her descent into rage is depicted, fantasy-like, by extreme acts of violence towards herself and the neighborhood animals. Ok then.
And finally, a film called, “If I had legs I’d kick you,” released this year, centers around another mother, with another young child, married but whose partner is “mostly” working, and in this case, the mother also has a career, and the slow cycle into disorder, isolation, and ultimately a mental breakdown.
Couple thoughts, yes, it’s Hollywood and Hollywood is known for its seeming distaste for motherhood, but that’s not my point.
Postpartum depression is very real. According to postpartumdepression.org; PPD affects 1 in 5 women and a staggering 50% of women struggling with PPD either do not or cannot seek care. Today’s average PCP is not properly equipped to diagnose and help treat this form of mental and emotional depression.
Places like Next Step Pregnancy Services are working towards being able to offer more robust resources and support for this heartbreaking disorder but its not easy. There just is not a lot out there!
The behaviors portrayed in the films I mentioned tend to be on the more extreme side but not wholly without some truth.
My other and main point I want to impart however is this: Yes motherhood is hard. It is messy and draining. And as a mother you do in fact, have to, “die to self”. It means, for your child, you consciously set aside your own desires, choices, and hopes – for a time. But the immeasurable gifts you can experience and accept are without a doubt worth it. And this is not just me, or just a sentiment, this is the truth. The truth that Hollywood and the “mainstream media” love to ignore.
“These postpartum thrillers are telling us that to become a mother in a system that doesn’t favor you is to lose control over your life as you once knew it.” (sheknows.com, A. Kelly, 11/7/25)
So to my question at the beginning on nihilism – that “conditions” (motherhood) are so bad as to make “destruction” (rage, contempt, carelessness, distraction) desirable for its “own sake” (good for the woman) independent of any constructive program or “possibility” (sacred connection with your child).”
Is that kind of futility how a lot of the current generation sees motherhood? What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear!
Next Step celebrates motherhood – messiness and all. And will continue to bolster women choosing life with our whole hearts.
P.S. Lest we forget – paternal PPD is also real, affecting approximately 10% of new fathers. Let’s lift them up in prayer as well. Fathers matter!
I recently read an article titled “Fewer medical students trained for abortion procedures” (By Sarah Varney, KFF Health News/March 22, 2022, Kaiser Health News). I can’t even recall how I came across it but it was written just after the overturning of Roe in 2022. The basic premise was that because of the new (in 2022) abortion restrictions in several states the medical discipline and residency programs who previously offered standardized teaching on abortion “care” were not necessarily continuing to require training of said procedure.
I decided to dig a little more on this especially in relation to our state, Washington, because well, we are not a state that restricts abortion. I was disappointed, though not wholly surprised, to find that the University of Washington, “Due to the narrowing access to abortion training in other states”, has made the decision to “only admit residents who are committed to providing abortion care”. That way, this ensures all available spots contribute to training physicians who want to learn and perform abortions in Washington state. And there is no longer an ‘opt out’ box to check.
“If we live in a state where abortion care is legal, we need to recruit medical students into our program that want to provide abortion care,” said Dr. Alyssa Stephenson-Famy, an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at UW. “We should not waste our spots on people not willing to provide abortion.”
“Medicine is a moral enterprise. All are called to lead a moral life and to achieve the holiness of the saints. This obviously means that ethics is important in all professions and walks of life. Yet, we rightly hold physicians and other health care workers to higher standards of professional ethics.” (The Moral Mind, Joseph Meaney,https://www.ncbcenter.org/messages-from-presidents/moralententerprize-3y2rn)
We correctly think of our medical caregivers as engaged in the healing professions. That is why it is a sick perversion of medicine when pressure groups or governments seek to force doctors to become killers. Requiring them (medical students) to become executioners by performing abortions as part of their training or professional duties is something beyond the pale. Saving “spots” for those willing to engage in murder and refusing those seeking to train in the profession of healing from their calling because they, gasp!stubbornly refuse to learn how to “murder their patients” is appalling.
Well Next Step is here and here we will remain – our medical staff and volunteers – stubbornly and wholeheartedly practicing medicine that first, does no harm.
What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think that faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. ~ Flannery O’Connor
On August 27th this year 75-year-old Rose Docherty was arrested by Glasgow Police while standing silently outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Her crime? Peacefully holding sign that read; “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”
A couple things of note; Queen Elizabeth University Hospital performs abortions up to 14 weeks. If a woman is beyond 14 weeks they “provide you with further information, or with your permission, refer you to another termination of pregnancy service. “. QEUH is one of 30 “Safe Access Zones” in Scotland. “Safe Access Zones are in place everywhere that abortion services are provided. Within a Safe Access Zone, it’s illegal to try to influence, harass, or prevent anyone from accessing or providing abortion services.” (https://www.nhsggc.scot/hospitals-services)
It should be noted also that, by law, these zones extend a default radius of 200 meters. Rose was exactly 200 meters from the hospital when arrested. She had not approached or spoken to anyone, simply offered consensual conversation, and prayed. This is the 2nd time in fact she has been arrested. For the same crime, with the same sign, on February 19th of the same year. Simply for praying and being a silent presence in case there is anyone who wants to talk. Reacting to her arrest, she said:
“Everybody has the right to engage in consensual conversation.” I held my sign with love and compassion, inviting anyone who wants to chat, to do so.
This story really struck a chord with me and I felt compelled to share with all of you. The very heart of our faith is prayer. Going to the foot of the cross. Selflessly giving of ourselves despite every obstacle, to do what is needed. To speak for those who cannot. To be a place of refuge for those who need shelter. To be armed for battle for those who cannot protect themselves. And in Rose’s case – to be a listening ear for those who cry to be heard.
At Next Step women come in for a variety of reasons but above all its to be heard. To be given a chance to consider all options. To consider from so many angles how their choices will affect them, their families, their futures. A protected place to obtain information, resources, encouragement, and prayer.
We will not be silenced from offering compassionate care, charity, and truth. Not all outcomes are known to us and not all stories progress to where we hope but our clinic is, if nothing else, a buffer zone, for women and families, to shelter from the celebration of self-worship, self-indulgence, and self-absorption that permeates our culture. We do not coerce, we listen and talk, if you want.
Affectuose in Christo and with sincere gratitude ~ Heather Vasquez P.S. Don’t forget the Open House coming up on Sunday October19th. Drop in 1p-4p! P.P.S. We are hiring for a part time RN to assist with early ultrasound and more! Please email heather@nextstepnw.com
