As we edge ever closer to celebrating with family and friends around the  dinner table and give thanks for our health, our family, our homes, our delicious meal, and our country (as I will be) I pray that each of us, in some small way, keeps in the back of our hearts, those that are perhaps not celebrating. Those who may be or feel alone and question what there is to be thankful for. 

Late last year Next Step Pregnancy Services began offering Abortion Pill  Reversal (APR) services. This is a process sought out when a woman takes the first of two pills to end her pregnancy and realizes she has made a terrible mistake. Can she go back? In some cases, many in fact, yes, she can. That’s where Next Step comes in.

These services include tangible support, a prescription medication of progesterone (a natural hormone produced during pregnancy that nourishes baby), and ultrasounds to check on pregnancy progress. It is a bright beacon of hope. The brightest. While we are so very blessed to have this service to offer like any medical process there are no guarantees. And while there have been successes, 68% success rate in fact, not every story ends that way. I would like to share one of those.

This past year a woman found us and was en route driving to us (~ 2 hour drive) even before confirming we could help her. She was in the military and felt pressure to take the abortion pill from not only the father of the baby but her coworkers as well. Her one friend helped her find us to see if there was a chance to save her baby.
She had gotten the pill online and never had an ultrasound done. We didn’t know the exact age of baby – possibly 7 or 8 weeks? She was in her late 30s and had never been pregnant. She was horrified she may have ruined her only chance at having a baby.

Sadly, it was a long drive home for this woman. We could not tell her she had a viable pregnancy. But we could tell her she was no longer pregnant – she had likely miscarried earlier in her pregnancy – about 2 weeks prior. We provided as much tangible and emotional support as we could.
“At least I don’t have to live knowing I killed my baby.”
While this story still ends on a sad note – I am very thankful we could give this little bit of comfort. 

Because please know, the very real emotional trauma and heartbrokenness of knowing you caused the death of your unborn child can never be undone. Forgiven yes! But not forgotten, Although in her case her baby was still lost. She was not. Not to the trauma of abortion.
Being able to be with her during this time, to hold her, to listen to her, to know her and let her know we saw her was Christ’s work and Will expressed and shared.  Thank you for your continual support. We are so very thankful for each and every one of you. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

“If you’re going to pray for potatoes, you should have a hoe in your hand.”
In that way we must be like those in Nehemiah’s time who “did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other” (Nehemiah 4:17).

As we enter into the last few days before what folks are calling the “most important election of our lifetime,” (Christianity Today, 07/26/2024, K. Schiess) I happen to come across what is considered one of the most important speeches given in the last century, spoken on October 27th, 1964 just ahead of the Presidential campaign of Goldwater and Johnson. It was given by actor turned public speaker and later our 40th President, Ronald Reagan. It is a very lengthy but highly effective speech now and when it was given 60 years ago. But it was the last bit that stood out to me as not only profound but extremely relevant in 2024. 

The address touches on many things but the most important was about our freedoms. And our responsibilities in upholding those freedoms. When Reagan delivered this keynote there was a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding the current US relations with the Soviet Union. But we can easily replace certain words and ideas to fit wholly into our current moral ideologies.

Thank you for your continued support for Next Step Pregnancy Services and its many clients, client families, and stories. Informed consent is freedom. Advocacy for the unborn is empowerment. Protecting those who are most vulnerable is our charge as Christians.  

Here is an excerpt. 

“Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy “accommodation.” And they say if we’ll only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he’ll forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer – not an easy answer but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right.
We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the [bomb] (or imprisonment for daring to pray for and defend our fellow brothers and sisters in the womb)  by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain,(or in the womb)  “Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we’re willing to make a deal with your slave masters.” 

Alexander Hamilton said, “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” 

Now let’s set the record straight. There’s no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there’s only one guaranteed way you can have peace – and you can have it in the next second – surrender.

Admittedly, there’s a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face, that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand, the ultimatum. And what then?

Someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. [He] believes this because from our side [he’s] heard voices pleading for “peace at any price” or as one commentator put it, he’d rather “live on his knees than die on his feet.” And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don’t speak for the rest of us.

You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin – just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard ’round the world?
The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn’t die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it’s a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, “There is a price we will not pay.” “There is a point beyond which they must not advance.

” Winston Churchill said, “The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits – not animals.” And he said, “There’s something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
He (our Lord) has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny. Thank you very much.”

Dear friend in Christ, October is Respect Life Month!

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.’ ~ J.R.R Tolkien

And so we enter into the season of rest. A time of stillness, thanksgiving, and peace. The heat and eagerness of Summer burns off, hearts and minds turn toward home. Here at Next Step Pregnancy Services we turn inwardly in prayer for the many clients and families served, and the many new lives welcomed into loving yet uncertain arms.

One of the services we offer that I am most proud of is APR, abortion pill reversal. This simple offering, which has filled those who oppose protections for the unborn with such vitriol, is in fact the one that most embodies the hope that is the “stone the builders rejected” (Matt 21:42)

The very act when a woman realizes that she does not want to abort her child and reaches out with a desire to reverse the process is faith personified. And by the Grace of God and with your support Next Step Pregnancy can answer. Answer with hope. with a prescription for Progesterone. With an ultrasound, without judgment or sentence, with compassion and alliance. Faith answered by faith. That’s what we bring.

The month of October is Respect Life Month. A month to recognize, celebrate, and renew our commitment to those women, men, and children affected by the past or present sin of abortion.

I am reaching out to you, my fellow soldiers, this month to ask you to renew your commitment to your local pregnancy care clinic, be it Next Step Pregnancy Services or otherwise, and continue to strengthen our ability to say yes to every person who comes to us seeking care.

Next Step Pregnancy Services is the only Accredited 501(c)3 Pro-Life clinic straddling the multiple communities, neighborhoods, and families between Everett and downtown Seattle. We are 100% donor reliant not receiving nor requesting state or federal funding. Our medical staff offer pregnancy testing, early diagnostic ultrasounds, STI testing and treatment, Reproductive Loss Grief care, maternity, newborn, and toddler supplies, and Abortion Pill Reversal care and sonograms.

With your continued support and prayers we plan to add Cycle Charting education, and possibly more services for young women and teens.

We want to impart this to them; “I am the Daughter of the King, who is not moved by the world, for my God is with me, and goes before me. I do not fear because I am His.” ~

Heather Vasquez, Executive Director

heather@nextstepnw.com / nssupport.org

What a day! Neither wind nor rain nor cold! Nothing stood in the way of beautifying Next Step! Thank you to the awesome people who came out to volunteer hours of their time getting dirty, sore, and tirelessly planting, shoveling, digging, and more! Many hands made light work for sure! What a blessing. The goal was to ensure a warm, bright, and welcoming place for all our clients – mission accomplished. See below the great photos for all the angels who came to help.

Kim and Josh Cummins, Marilyn Thornton, Jake and Nicole Forman – from the NS Board

From St. Mark – Nicholas, Robbie, and Helena Yen, Abby Pinard, Alyssa and Francie House

Dennis Halpin, Eoin, Vander, and Ryan Ritter from Boy Scouts Troop 309

Anne Lombard and Eleanor Dusch from American Heritage Girls Troop 821

Isabella Couarrubias from St. Thomas More

Linda Charcas from Holy Rosary’s Respect Life Group

Thank you Donna Vago, and Grace and Stephen Heinrichs!

And finally thank you to my big brother Ricky from the Buyce clan and my darling daughter Scarlett!!

At the dawn of salvation, it is the Birth of a Child
which is proclaimed as joyful news.

Today, March 25, marks the anniversary of the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life). Written by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995. 

The source of this “great joy” is the Birth of the Savior; but Christmas also reveals the full meaning of every human birth, and the joy which accompanies the Birth of the Messiah is thus seen to be the foundation and fulfilment of joy at every child born into the world (cf. Jn 16:21).

I cannot begin to write anything nearly as beautiful and profound as the encyclical referred to here but I can share its proclamations and connect them to what is and has always been the heart of our mission here at Next Step Pregnancy Services. 

“Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase.” (Evangelium Vitae, 1995).

Next Step’s vocation is to recognize and name those children, the unborn, those human lives that we are privileged to welcome each and every time a woman comes through our doors whether she’s happy, or tentative, uncertain, angry, overjoyed, alone, or with family. Whatever her circumstance she is cherished, planned, and chosen. Chosen to carry new life. 

For the full encyclical click here –
https://tinyurl.com/evangeliumvitae25

Thank you to all those whose prayers and gifts to Next Step continue to strengthen this thriving organization. Please check out more ways to help, pray, and donate by going to nssupport.org

P.S. Save the Date – the Next Step Pregnancy Services Gala will be on Saturday September 14th! More to come. 

~ Saint Charles Borromeo

As I examine that statement about charity I’m reminded of God’s ultimate charge of us, His people. To love God above all else and to love thy neighbor as ourselves because we love Him. “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God.” (CCC1822). That’s powerful. And direct. 

In Washington state alone there are over 50 pregnancy resource clinics, centers, and programs dedicated to the well-being and care of the men, women and children (born and unborn) that seek out assistance each and every day.  Some centers focus on material goods (diapers, formula, clothes) while others are more medically geared offering evidence based ultrasounds, pregnancy testing, STI testing and treatment and still others offer well women health care on top of pregnancy and family ministry and still others are focused on maternity housing and better maternal outcomes as well as walking beside women and children up and beyond those first few years. Each ministry is essential and can’t work alone. 

And that’s just Washington state! The latest numbers say there are well over 2000 pregnancy resource clinics and centers in the US. If you take a look at the monetary value of even a fraction of the work these organizations accomplish you’ll be blown away – and I hope – proud to know where your treasure lies. 

• Nearly $151 million in ultrasound-related care  (Year-to-Date Next Step Pregnancy performed over 300 ultrasound scans for expectant moms!)
• Over $75 million in parenting education programs  
• An over $3 million investment into our nation’s youth, teaching sexual risk avoidance  

These centers, like Next Step Pregnancy Services, also provided practical support of: 

• Over $40 million in diapers  (Next Step Pregnancy Services welcomed almost 5000 clients and client families in 2023 and the first month of the new year!)
• $6 million worth of baby formula 
• Well over $7 million in new car seats, cribs, and strollers  

Other services include: 

• Abortion pill reversal (Next Step Pregnancy Services just started this service in September of last year!)
• STD testing and treatment (Next Step Pregnancy offers a full service STI clinic with trained and certified nurses)
• Abortion trauma recovery (Next Step Pregnancy Services partners with the likes of Healing Hearts, Project Rachel, and The Life Perspectives Institute to offer post-abortive support.)

These essential services totaled over $358 million in one twelve-month period! Think about that for a moment. That is the power of pro-life pregnancy center. The power of what you’ve helped create at Next Step Pregnancy Services here in Lynnwood, Washington. 

And yet on October 13th, 2023 sixteen Attorney Generals joined together to produce and endorse an open letter denouncing Pregnancy Resource Clinics like Next Step. You can read the letter here if you are so inclined. http://tinyurl.com/October23Letter

“The hard truth is pro-life pregnancy centers impact the bottom line of the abortion industry. They are a competition that must be eliminated.”  (Bradley Mattes is president of the Life Issues Institute.)

Meet the newest Next Step babies! Lola and her mother and Musa and his big sister!

Dear Friend of Next Step,

The first day of Summer this year is June 21^st! Washington is full of blue skies and warm breezes. Outdoor concerts and Strawberry Festivals. Summer is beautiful here. But there is a darker side to Washington State just now. Our current Governor is stockpiling the abortion pill Misoprostol in the event access to this drug is in danger. On April 27^th Governor Inslee signed a bill that makes Washington a so-called “Sanctuary State for Reproductive Care.” In times like this I can’t help but feel like the walls are closing in around us! But I’m also reminded daily that now more than ever before the battle is being fought and that those of us who defend life will prevail. The road ahead will not be an easy one (has it ever been?) but the resilience and faith we display now will ensure lives are saved and hearts are changed.

Recently my 12-year-old daughter and I listened to an audiobook together. It was called A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. This is a beloved American classic about a young girl’s coming-of-age at the turn of the 20^th century.  The story presents young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg. It was, in a lot of ways, a very brutal story, and there were quite a few moments when I worried it was too much for my daughter. It did not pull any punches about the realities of life at that time for those living in abject poverty. The story did, however, create several talking points for my daughter and me– and for that I am grateful.

The reason I bring this up to you folks is that certain aspects of the story put me in mind of our day-to-day work at Next Step and the women and families that seek us out. Like Francie’s parents, Katie, and Johnny, we see many young men and women, with little or no income, some with not a huge amount of education, but with children. And babies. And worries about how to get from day to day keeping their families fed, cared for, and intact. And especially those that live the struggle acutely upon finding themselves expecting.

The very first lines of the novel refer to the title, though the reader does not yet know the significance,

“There’s a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly . . . survives without sun, water, and seemingly without earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many of it.”

Francie Nolan was a sickly child. Weak and blue. And Katie was no longer producing milk because Katie is pregnant again with her second child. The neighborhood midwife offers Katie ‘some foul brown liquid’ and a choice. Katie refuses. Katie, like Francie, is the tree that struggles to reach the sky regardless of hardship. There are many families struggling to reach the sky, many children waiting to be born. Life can be harsh. But each of us is here by the grace of God. For a purpose. And Next Step’s purpose is to be one of many steppingstones for our clients so that they, and their children, can flourish, grow and be something.