Spring is in the air at Next Step! Also, check out this informative video Next Step did with local entrepreneur Dave Wescott of TransBlue General Contractors! TransBlue has worked with Next Step for years and their commitment to serving the community is such a huge gift!
March is Women’s History Month! Here are just a few examples of women standing up for life!
Celebrating during Women’s History Month!
“in this world, where cruelty prevails in so many aspects of our life I would not add the weight of choice to kill rather than to let live.”
~ Pearl S. Buck (Every Life is a Gift, 1968)
where she shares about her child who suffered from retardation due to phenylketonuria.
Pearl S. Buck, most famously authored “The Good Earth” among some 70 novels but also has some very essential essays! Of note also, Pearl was also a mother of eight!
Next up on our month-long celebration of women is
Graciela Olivarez.
First woman to graduate from Notre Dame Law School – She was a charter member for the National Organization for Women but left in 1967 after they declared support for abortion. Her is a portion of what she stood for –
“Advocacy by women for legalized abortion on a national scale is so anti-women’s liberation that it flies in the face of what some of us are trying to accomplish through the women’s movement – namely, equality – equality means an equal sharing of responsibilities by and as men and women….
What kind of future do we all have to look forward to if men are excused either morally or legally from their responsibility for participation in the creation of life…?
To talk about the “wanted” and the “unwanted” child smacks too much of bigotry and prejudice. Many of us have experienced the sting of being “unwanted” by certain segments of our society….
I am not impressed or persuaded by those who express concern for the low-income woman who may find herself carrying an unplanned pregnancy and for the future of the unplanned child…because the fact remains that in this affluent nation of ours, pregnant cattle and horses receive better health care than pregnant poor women. The poor cry out for justice and we respond with legalized abortion.”
Emily Albrecht, from the Equal Rights Institute gets it. And she’s the keynote speaker at this year’s Next Step Pregnancy Services Gala – also celebrating 25 years of Next Step! Sat September 23rd 2023!
Its our last week of Women’s History Month!
Google actually introduced us all to this wonder on their Google Doodle from yesterday! thanks google…..
*Check out the beautiful sketch**
Justine Siegemund, a midwife who dared to challenge patriarchal attitudes in the 17th century was the first person in Germany to write a book on obstetrics from a woman’s perspective. In 1690, the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) certified her book, The Court Midwife, as an official medical textbook. During a time when few women had access to formal education, Siegemund became the first woman to publish a seminal medical text in German. Siegemund began her career in midwifery by offering free services to underprivileged women. She soon became known for her ability to safely guide women through difficult births, and word spread quickly to expecting women across the country. Justine Siegemund set the foundation for modern childbirth education! Her legacy still inspires physicians to make labor and delivery safer for all.
Next Step achieves 2023 Platinum Seal!
We’ve just earned our 2023 Platinum Seal with @Candid.org!
We are excited to share the work our nonprofit does through our non profit profile.
Learn how you can support us and make a difference. Just search under EIN 61-1590547
Overcoming Washington’s Latest Hurdle!
”And of what should we be afraid?
Our captain on this battlefield is Christ Jesus.”
– St. Catherine of Siena
The latest in the long string of hurdles leaders in Washington state have thrust in front of the many life-affirming organizations (such as Next Step) operating in the state is an online complaint form that originated earlier this year and was created by the office of the Attorney General, Bob Ferguson.
It is titled the “Reproductive Rights Complaint Form” and it can be submitted by anyone who has been “denied abortion access” and/or feels they have been “harassed at a facility or clinic.” Once the AG’s office receives the form they are free to “investigate the offending facility”.
As you can guess there so many things amiss about this “form”.
Its a seamless way for anyone to anonymously submit false claims about a facility or organization they deem has ‘offended’ them in some way. There is no criteria for submission, no proof of actual harassment or issues is required, and there is no indication about exactly how the Attorney General’s office will utilize this information.
Now I’m all for feedback. I welcome it. How else can we improve? The squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you see something, say something and on and on. But to allow for blatant misuse of that concept and leave its purpose, its criteria, and any outcomes so vague sets off all kinds of alarm bells.
Places like Next Step do not “deny abortion access”. Simply stated it is not a service we offer, as declared clearly on our website, intake forms, and promotional materials. And as far as harassment – again – what does that mean? Harassed how? By whom? About what?
See what I mean. Its yet another attempt at Washington’s leaders to try and impede women from going where they want, obtaining facts about ALL of their options, and making their own choices.
Well, we are for women. All women. Mothers and mothers to be. We are for the defenseless. Born and Unborn. We are for fathers and fathers to be. We are for truth.
So Mr. Ferguson, you can launch your complaint forms and pretend to care about the rights of those in your state. Next Step Pregnancy Services will remain open and serving those who choose to come to us with the same compassion and medical excellence we’ve always had.
Here is a link to the form if you are so inclined to check it out –
https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhandler/ago/reproductiverights.aspx?blm_aid=50287621
Warmly,
Heather Vasquez
Next Step Pregnancy Services
Interested in getting involved with the Next Step Pregnancy Services’ Ministry?
Next Step Pregnancy Services is on the verge of huge changes in the fight for life! We’d love for you to be a part of it!
Check out the many ways you can serve! Whether it be boots on the ground volunteering in the clinic, or being a part of the Board, or simply giving – supplies, prayers, and yes, dollars.
All in the name of defending and supporting life – at all stages. Mothers, Fathers and Babies. Interested?
Check out the ‘Get Involved’ tab to see how you can!
Sanctity of Life Sunday
Dear Friends of Next Step,
This Sunday January 22nd, 2023 is Sanctity of Life Sunday. The first SOL since the fall of Roe. Always a special day, its made even more so because life won and is continuing to win. How many times though, have you heard ‘the fight’s not over!’? Probably a lot. Me too. And its not wrong. You might say we won a significant battle but not the war.
Our day to day work her at Next Step makes a difference. I know it does. I live it every day! But the lies and slander flung at PRCs (pregnancy resource clinics) has increased 100 fold since January 2022 and the demise of Roe. And its only going to get worse. In fact this Sunday there are planned protests and rallies all over the country. Here in Washington there is one planned in front of our Next Step clinic on 64th Ave. West and 196th as well as in front of St. James Cathedral in Seattle.
What do we do? I know in my discussions and defense of Next Step, of which I have been doing almost weekly now, a disturbing trend has arisen. The fact is there are a vast number of pro-abortion folks who will not simply be satisfied if abortion remains a viable option for many states but will only rest when we all agree that abortion, in its every form, is ok. Cease to call it wrong and join them in calling it right.
Well we will not. We refuse. We reject, rebuff, and abhor the act and will never affirm it to be of God and morally just.
But as we have learned this year and last, we cannot remain passive. “A best defense is a good offense.” – Sun-Tzu
So please do keep Next Step Pregnancy Services in your prayers this Sunday as we celebrate the first anniversary of the overturning of Roe as well as a day to contemplate and recognize the Sanctity of all Human Life.
~Heather Vasquez
audaces fortuna juvat
Speak the Truth Even if Your Voice Shakes!
Guerrilla Warfare? Hit-and-Run scare tactics designed to misrepresent places like Next Step Pregnancy Services (again….)
“Washington Must Hold Crisis Pregnancy Centers Accountable” is the latest headline from the “Progressive Newspaper” (and I use the term loosely) The Stranger.
(penned by UW students in a segment tagged guest rant from 11/25/2022)
Let’s clear a few things up and please – be a spreader of facts – not fiction.
- PRCs “divert clients from abortions by using coercive tactics and medical misinformation”
- Every client comes into our clinic of their own free will. Our services are posted clearly, truthfully, and without embellishment.
- The medical services we provide are legitimate procedures and tests performed by licensed medical professionals. Early diagnostic ultrasounds are used to determine viability and gestational age. End of. There is nothing false about that.
- They position themselves strategically to target the young and in low-income communities.
- Next Step Pregnancy Services is on the bus line and located conveniently in between the larger cities of Seattle and Everett. If strategic means ease of locale for those seeking care, then yes. Yes we do.
- The young and low-income? Unlike “the other guys” we do not position ourselves directly inside schools of young kids. Additionally unlike “the other guys” we do offer free services and supplies because we recognize that having children and being pregnant can be an expensive time and we are here to help ease some of that inevitable financial strain.
- PRCs are a “potential health threat because they delay clients from receiving prenatal care” and “intentionally lie to clients by incorrectly reporting their gestational age”.
- To be honest is this “claim” worth even responding to? In 2022 alone Next Step medical professionals performed over 300 diagnostic ultrasounds and referred a similar amount to local Ob-gyns for further care. Almost 90% were first trimester (0-13 weeks). 80% of those clients intended to carry with the rest undecided and overwhelmed. As we all felt at one time or another didn’t we?
- So many of the women coming into PRCs are simply there to obtain gestational age or to check on their pregnancy due to a history of previous miscarriage. They just need reassurance. We can do that. We do that.
- “Most PRCs are affiliated and funded by evangelical Christian anti-abortion organizations and are increasingly funded by state and federal grants.”
- That last one is laughable. Funded by Washington State? Next Step Pregnancy Services is not affiliated with any particular church or religious organization. We are an independent 501(c)3 funded by independent organizations and free individuals (like you!) . Next Step has never, nor will we ever, accept state or federal funding.
- The fact that Next Step is filled with Christ-Centered staff and volunteers is purely a coincidence…..the protection of life and the vulnerable is an obvious by product of being a follower of Christ. Go figure.
Giving Trees
New Events for 2023!
Stay tuned for 2023 events! Next Step Pregnancy is hoping for new open house, a pastor brunch, and more!
Christmas Letter 2022
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