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GuideStar has labeled Next Step as Platinum!
We’re excited to share that our organization has earned a 2022 Platinum Seal of Transparency with Candid! Now, you can support our work with trust and confidence by viewing our #NonprofitProfile: https://www.guidestar.org/profile/61-1590547
WA and a Post Roe World
June 21st, 2022 – Another decision day for the United States Supreme Court has passed and there was not a judgement on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Since the far reaching decision made back in 1973 ruling abortion as a legal practice and thus the tragic termination of almost 63 million babies this is the first time the Court will rule on the constitutionality of a pre-viability abortion ban since Roe. It is that significant.
What does it mean to overturn Roe? Does it mean any and all abortions are now illegal? No, sadly that is not what it means. It does however mean that the decision to accept abortion as a legal act or not will reside with the leadership of each state and no longer be under Federal domain. This is a good thing. A wonderful thing. This will, no doubt about it, save countless lives. Both the babies who will live and the women who will not have to endure the ramifications of such a destructive decision. Of the 50 states in the U.S there are 26 that either already have laws in place that protect the unborn or they have a “trigger-ban” which is a “law designed to be “triggered” and take effect automatically or by quick state action if Roe no longer applies” (www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/10/26-updated04/19/2022). And still there are others that have historically demonstrated their desire to rethink the Roe decision and create greater protections for the unborn. And to date, there are at least 16 states that will fight tooth and nail to keep abortion legal and unrestricted.
That’s 42 states. What about the other 8? As of now 5 of those will most likely continue restrictions on abortion, possibly even a ban, and the last 3 could go either way. There is no clear majority for or against the protections of the unborn.
So where does that leave us? Well here in WA where Next Step Pregnancy Services is located abortion will continue to be a legal option for all who seek it. WA has historically been a pro-abortion state and it does not appear to change any time soon. To that end WA will become a “safety-net state” for abortion seekers. That’s where Next Step (and you!) are essential. There will be women here in WA or traveling to WA from other states who may not be 100% certain of what is best for them. They may be feeling pressured by their partner, family, or friends. They may feel even more anxiety over the significance of the changing laws. A staggering 64% of women feel pressured or coerced into aborting and 79% were not told about the available resources.
We need to be ready to help. With compassion, non-judgement, accurate information about ALL of their options, tangible resources and contacts, and above they need to know and feel confident in our support of them, whatever their decision. As has been seen, not everyone wants an abortion. But sadly that does not always mean it won’t still happen. They still need us. 65% of women suffered trauma symptoms after abortion. We do not know His plans or His reasons. Or what work He will do or is doing in someone’s life. All we can do is meet every woman where they are with sincerity, integrity, and grace. Please help Next Step be that place.
Welcome Ralphie!
Hello friends, Next Step is thriving! We welcomed our newest teammate – Ralphie!
Ralphie has been certified as an ’emotional support dog’ and he’s just a sweetie. There is overwhelming evidence that some dogs can help provide comfort and they can counteract the effects of stress and anxiety. Which is sometimes a huge factor in women and girls facing an unplanned pregnancy. There is nothing like a snuggle from a dog to bring a smile. Thank you for all your support!
“Why destroy a place that helps women?”
I have been asking myself the same thing for two weeks now. Ever since someone vandalized the Next Step clinic in the early morning hours of May 25th.
Blood red words adorned the front door and walkway. Five of the clinic’s front windows were broken.
Why? Because they cannot abide it when a woman chooses life.
It was never about choice.
On Wednesday May 25th Next Step welcomed many clients in the doors. With ultrasound paper draping the front door to cover the spray-paint and friends boarding up the broken windows – Next Step was open and serving. And the overwhelming question we were asked that day? “Why destroy a place that helps women?”
Despite some major reservations I decided to answer some questions from, among others, Jason Rantz, LifeSite News, King 5, The Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Fox News and more.
My question to their questions – “If a woman chooses to come here and get our assistance, she made a choice. So why can’t she go where she wants to go?”
In 2022 so far Next Step has seen over 1,250 clients/families, performed 144 pregnancy tests and our nurses have completed 45 ultrasound scans. Our resources have been requested and utilized over and over and over again for those seeking assistance.
Our nurses and staff do not make choices for our clients. Next Step does not make any money from the reproductive decisions our clients make. Next Step offers an exhaustive number of services, supplies, and compassion to anyone who comes through our doors.
So again – “Why destroy a place that helps women?” Something to think about. To pray about. In the last few months Next Step has joined several other pregnancy resource clinics who have been vandalized, lied about, targeted with false reviews and more. And it won’t end any time soon. The landmark Supreme Court decision regarding the probable overturning of Roe is expected to be announced mid to late June. And with it – a range of emotions will take over for many folks. Anger, elation, fear, relief, motivation, hate, and conviction.
Your support of Next Step Pregnancy Services is needed now more than ever. For those that support us unfailingly monthly, quarterly, annually, bi-annually, when you can – thank you. We’re in this now and there is no going backwards. The lives of women and their unborn depend on us. Whatever the verdict places like Next Step Pregnancy clinic are essential “if only to have someplace to go without having to crawl to” Planned Parenthood. For there they will receive nothing but death and lies.
Walk boldly. You are choosing to defend life and there is no greater task.
Proverbs 24: 11-12
Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?
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Virtual Baby Bottle!
Next Step Gala 2022
Saturday September 24th, 2022 – Holy Rosary Church 630 7th Ave. North,
Edmonds, WA 98020 – 6pm
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who was promised is faithful. ~ Hebrews 10:23
Join us for dinner and drinks, a silent auction and a compelling young speaker!
You won’t want to miss it.
Invitations will be out over the summer! If you aren’t on our mailing list – email heather@nextstepnw.com
Rebekah Hagan is one of today`s youngest speakers on the issues of teenage pregnancy, abortion, and abortion pill reversal.
Raised in a Christian home where abortion was never discussed, Rebekah`s life in pro-life ministry was unplanned and fueled, instead, by her firsthand experience. She became pregnant at seventeen with her son, Eli, and again with a second child while in her first year of college.
Feeling ashamed and fearing that she would lose her family and be forced to drop out of school, Rebekah thought that raising two children alone would be impossible. At just over seven weeks pregnant, she began a medication abortion that changed her life; however, her story did not end there.
A passionate advocate for grace-centered outreach, Rebekah Hagan uses her story to unravel the mindset of women in unplanned pregnancies, and to equip and encourage others to lead with hope and compassion
Addressing the “Leak”
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
Hebrews 12:1
I, like many of you, was patiently waiting as the time drew near when the injustice decided almost 50 years ago would be no more. Like all of you I was shocked to read of the ‘leak’ from the Supreme Court clerk’s office on Tuesday evening. The immediate reaction was a mix of joy, disbelief, and reluctance. What the heck?
As the story progressed and more details came to light about the possible nefarious motives of the “leak” lots of emotions and prayers raged through the hearts and minds of those of us who continue to stand firm in our faith and profess to the world that the protection of life is the test of tests He has placed before us.
Riots and protests erupted around the country at the news. Violence has been done to various pro-life clinics and groups. Little hits like trolling pregnancy resource clinics, like Next Step, and leaving false reviews to bigger punches like rocks thrown through pregnancy clinic windows and members or various pro-life groups being verbally harassed and bodily threatened.
Thankfully, so far, life has gone on as usual here at Next Step. Babies are being welcomed, young women and receiving life-changing news, clothes are being sorted and shared, toys are being picked out and taken home with smiles.
I invite you, friends of Next Step, to keep our ministry, our staff and volunteers and above all our clients in your hearts and in your minds and in your prayers. It is a critical time. A pivotal time for all defenders of life. Here in WA an overturning of Roe would mean something very different for say a PRC in Texas or Oklahoma. WA will become a safety net state for all those seeking abortion and we need to be prepared to meet these women, and their families, in their time of need and their time of uncertainty. More support then ever will be needed to keep Next Step on the map with open doors and the staff, services and supplies needed to be there when they come.
On Tuesday I was asked for our thoughts on the “leak” by a reporter from King 5. That can be tricky. I was very uneasy at the prospect of again allowing myself to get in front of a camera that may or may not slice and dice my words in the worst way. But I did – very very briefly. I highlighted again, as I did a couple months ago on King 5, the services Next Step provides. The certainty of our mission, unapologetically pro-life, and pro-woman and pro-family no matter what. That’s us. It thankfully did not blow up in my face.
There was also airtime given to a director from Pro Choice of Washington. And like our mantra about options other than abortion – I needed to ensure that every person was aware that there are answers and options that do in fact exist for them that do not include the termination of their own children and the hollowness and sorrow that follow. So I got in there.
As the verse at the top says – we’re on an obstacle course of sin and worldly distractions. So easily ensnared. We need to keep running the race He has made for us. Til the very end. I pray you will continue to support our clients and our mission – even more so than before – as we edge ever closer to this critical and momentous time in our nation’s history. When a grievous wrong will be righted and an innumerable lives will be saved.
Blessings
Heather
(photo is from the cover of Life magazine 1965)
May is for Mothers!
“Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.” —Lin Yutang
Becoming a mother has been the greatest, happiest, hardest, and scariest feat of my life. Nothing can compare. It’s a roller coaster that never seems to end. Its every lazy Sunday afternoon in the backyard playing croquet in too long grass, it’s the sticky puddle of unknown origin you find on the kitchen counter which brings an exasperated headshake, it’s the constant reminder of life pulsing and racing that you are responsible for , its every quiet night you spend pressing your palm gently to your child’s chest to ensure she is still breathing, and its all of the nights dozing in the moonlight not quite asleep until she is home and safely in your presence.
Its every school drop off living in constant fear of being scolded for not moving forward, its every edgy discussion about why organized religion is ‘bad’ and big plans to move somewhere in Europe where the politics are more ‘tolerant’ make you want to pop the cork on that bottle you’ve been saving and dump it down the drain where everything you taught your child appears to have gone.
Its every hug and joyful smile she ever gives you with sparkling eyes full of enthusiasm and hope. And your every instinct to keep that state of mind in her for as long as you can.
That’s some of what being a mother is for me. May is the month of motherhood. And yes, of all the rights I believe women should possess – I believe the right to be a mother is one. And that includes the right to be a mother an unborn little girl possesses while still in the womb hearing the steady drumbeat of her mother’s heart matching her own.
Save the Date!
Next Step in the News and on the Radio!
On March 17th 2022 Gov. Inslee signed into law HB1851 – here is a brief news segment King 5 did which included a quick snippet of Next Step!! We’re near the end! But great ending! Next Step shows that not only do we serve women 100% but there IS in fact an alternative to abortion.
On Feb 28th, 2022 Next Step was featured on the radio program “Conversations” with Emily Raines – KKWFFM Seattle Audacy! It starts at about 1:09 – check it out – lots of great info!
https://omny.fm/shows/seattle-kkwffm-default-audio-channel/next-step-pregnancy-services
Untitled
To be honest I’ve been hesitant in writing anything about the ongoing heartbreak in the Ukraine. Each new day seems to bring more and more harrowing news and images. But like all of us their plight has been on my mind heart, and lips in prayer daily. I, like many of you, read and wept about the senseless bombing of the maternity hospital in the southeastern city of Mariupol last week.
I’ve been hesitant not because I didn’t want to or because we all know how the ‘thoughts and prayers’ euphemism has become just that – but because I am simply without words. How do you even voice such sadness and astonishment at the raw and stark images and stories taking place right now, as we speak, near us, not worlds away. You can’t. Or at least I can’t.
I prayed last night with my 11-year-old daughter for the people of Ukraine. I cannot even fathom being a mother right now over there with my babies. I could not even finish the prayer, I was overcome. But my daughter did, she hugged me and said amen for us.
I attached a few of the images I have seen recently – primarily of mothers and their babies. Because Next Step is a place of mother and babies too. And there is absolutely nothing more beautiful and at the same time more fragile than mothers and babies
Untitled
To be honest I’ve been hesitant in writing anything about the ongoing heartbreak in the Ukraine. Each new day seems to bring more and more harrowing news and images. But like all of us their plight has been on my mind heart, and lips in prayer daily. I, like many of you, read and wept about the senseless bombing of the maternity hospital in the southeastern city of Mariupol last week.
I’ve been hesitant not because I didn’t want to or because we all know how the ‘thoughts and prayers’ euphemism has become just that – but because I am simply without words. How do you even voice such sadness and astonishment at the raw and stark images and stories taking place right now, as we speak, near us, not worlds away. You can’t. Or at least I can’t.
I prayed last night with my 11-year-old daughter for the people of Ukraine. I cannot even fathom being a mother right now over there with my babies. I could not even finish the prayer, I was overcome. But my daughter did, she hugged me and said amen for us.
I attached a few of the images I have seen recently – primarily of mothers and their babies. Because Next Step is a place of mother and babies too. And there is absolutely nothing more beautiful and at the same time more fragile than mothers and babies
Need some inspiration?
Introducing our 2022 Gala Speaker Rebekah!
Rebekah Hagan is one of today`s youngest speakers on the issues of teenage pregnancy, abortion, and abortion pill reversal.
Raised in a Christian home where abortion was never discussed, Rebekah`s life in pro-life ministry was unplanned and fueled, instead, by her firsthand experience. She became pregnant at seventeen with her son, Eli, and again with a second child while in her first year of college.
Feeling ashamed and fearing that she would lose her family and be forced to drop out of school, Rebekah thought that raising two children alone would be impossible. At just over seven weeks pregnant, she began a medication abortion that changed her life; however, her story did not end there.
Her story has been shared by local and national media, as well as religious and secular organizations, including Vice News HBO, Focus On The Family, Students For Life, Live Action, Heartbeat International, Epoch Times, and World Magazine.
A passionate advocate for grace-centered outreach, Rebekah Hagan uses her story to unravel the mindset of women in unplanned pregnancies, and to equip and encourage others to lead with hope and compassion.
Rebekah is a graduate of William Jessup University and a Mission Advancement Officer at Heartbeat International. She and her family reside in Northern California.
Winter Newsletter 2022
Thank you!
Thank you Blessed Sacrament! Your Baby Bottle Campaign raised well over $5000 for moms and babies!
Thank you Northlake Christian Church!
Pastor Ryan and his church family collected almost 2000 diapers and just under 5,700 baby wipes for Next Step Families! Thank you!
St. Brendan’s 2022 Baby Bottle Campaign brought in a whopping $12,574 for our ministry!
It’s Here!
The 2022 Next Step Pregnancy Services Annual Gala Dinner and Silent Auction
will be held on Saturday September 24th @ Holy Rosary Church in Edmonds.
Save the Dates will be out soon – you do not want to miss our powerful young speaker!
7-Day Devotional for Life and More
Saint Brendan’s if having their annual Baby Bottle Drive! January 8th – Jan 30th, see ‘Current Campaigns’ and thank you Knight of Columbus Council 6686!
Giving Trees and Gifts!
Thank you to all those who donated to the Giving Trees at your churches! The gifts were a beautiful blessing for all!
Christmas Letter
Thank You!
Giving Tuesday went swimmingly! Thank you to all who donated online and through the FB Fundraiser. Your support makes all the difference in the world.
Thank you!
