At My Life Clinic, we seek to inform, empower, and equip our clients to make life-affirming decisions. We don't tell them what to do. In this space, we want to do the same for you.
On January 18, 2024, abortion-advocates began petitioning throughout Missouri to place the Missouri Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative on the November 4 ballot. There’s a good chance you’ve already been approached by one or more petitioners. Most of our staff and board members have been asked to sign in the past few weeks. Outside the Daniel Boone Regional Library last weekend, a petitioner asked library patrons, "Will you sign this petition to lift Missouri's ban on abortion?" As our team discussed the petition and proposed amendment, we felt a unified responsibility to be one of the voices in the conversation our community will be having over the next eight months. As pro-life and pro-woman advocates, we're deeply concerned by the potential implications of this amendment. Over the next few months, we'll be responding to the current petition and proposed amendment. We’ll be sharing in our newsletter, social media, and blog, and we encourage you to share your thoughts with us as well. Our team will also connect you with helpful articles and resources as they become available, and to start, we encourage you to read the full text of the amendment. As we discuss this petition and potential upcoming November vote, we'll do our best to inform, empower, and equip you as we all navigate the months ahead.
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Introducing our renewed mission & vision and the heart behind our sparkly new brand! We’re making some changes and we want our supporters to be the first to know about them! In an attempt to refresh and simplify our organization’s look, we prayerfully moved toward rebranding over the past six months. Our staff, services, and goals are not changing - we’re just sprucing up our look! Our goal in updating our brand is to ensure that the image and message we communicate to our potential clients and broader community matches the services and support we provide at My Life Clinic. From Life Network to My Life ClinicOur organization began in 1992 as Open Arms Pregnancy Center. In 2008, Open Arms became Life Network, the donor umbrella for My Life Clinic, a pregnancy resource center in Columbia, Missouri. As we launch our new look, we are merging under one name: My Life Clinic. Going forward, our client-facing website will continue as mylifeclinic.org and you’ll still find information about how to get involved with our ministry at lifenetworkfriends.com. Life Network Friends will remain our donor page domain, but the name you’ll know us as is now My Life Clinic. Our Logo Image
In contrast, our image and message is clear – a gentle picture of the strength of a mother holding her child. It conveys the message we believe: that truly empowering a woman means supporting her and coming alongside her so that she can choose life for her baby. Renewing our Mission & VisionAlong with these changes, our team took some time to update our mission and vision statements to align with the goals and values of our organization. Mission: To inform, empower, and equip our clients to make life-affirming decisions about pregnancy, sexual-health, and relationships by meeting them with Christ-like compassion. Vision: It’s our vision that Mid-Missouri would be a community that values life in all circumstances and that in turn, we would see women and families thrive. Join us!
Pray that this update will bring even more clients into My Life Clinicand increase our name recognition in the community. We pray expectantly that the Lord will continue to work through this ministry in mighty ways! As we near the end of 2023, we want to make sure our partners are aware of the potential benefits of the Missouri Pregnancy Resource Center Tax Credit. Donors contributing $100 or more to Life Network in a calendar year are eligible to receive a 70% credit toward their Missouri state tax liability. By utilizing this benefit, your donation bolsters our ministry and also benefits you. Read more below and reach out to our team with any questions.
On Tuesday night, Ohio voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that establishes a right to abortion. As pro-life and pro-woman advocates, we’re deeply grieved by the implications of this amendment. We encourage you to read the ballot and full text of the amendment entitled “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.” Ohio Issue 1 ballot & full text of amendment. The full text of the amendment is below with our concerns noted. Upon approval, physicians now have the authority to determine the viability of a preborn child, as well as the authority to determine if an abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant woman’s life or health, including mental and emotional health, at any stage of pregnancy. This means the life of a preborn child is in the hands of a medical professional’s subjective judgment. It is also worth mentioning that for-profit abortion providers like Planned Parenthood benefit from abortion access, unlike Pregnancy Centers like My Life Clinic that are entirely non-profit. The open-ended implications of this allowance have raised appropriate alarm, with advocates from both sides of the issue voicing concern. What this means for Missouri Missouri lobbyist, Sam Lee, communicated at this week’s Alliance for Life conference in Kansas City that we, as pro-life advocates, should be aware of the likelihood that Missouri’s legislature is considering following suit. If abortion access is reinstated in Missouri, this could threaten funding for Alternatives to Abortion, a Missouri program that offers services to encourage women to choose life for their baby, as well as the 70% Missouri Pregnancy Resource Center Tax Credit program. As we just saw in Ohio, things can change quickly and Missouri is not immune. Our calling to you In today’s culture, we feel it’s vitally important to discuss the broader implications that news like this has for women and children in our state. Our Life Network team will provide updates as much as we can, and we encourage you to take ownership in staying current on the abortion conversation. In light of this setback, we continue to have hope. The Dobbs decision has made a difference: studies show there were 5,000 less abortions in the two months following the overturn of Roe v Wade. We’re not alone in our face-to-face work with women facing unplanned pregnancies. My Life Clinic is working alongside many pregnancy resource centers in Missouri that are meeting women where they are, loving them well, and answering practical needs. Moments like this call us to prayer. We deeply desire for abortion to become unthinkable and we know that this is only possible if hearts are changed. We’re encouraged by The Gospel Coalition’s response to Tuesday’s news here. “We can fight the pro-life fight joyfully in the power of the Spirit, knowing one day the One who conquered death will return to make all things new.”
On June 24th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned the 49 year-old law upholding the federal right to an abortion. While many of us did not expect to see this change within our lifetimes, we rejoice that we as a country are one step closer to making abortion unthinkable. With the right to an abortion returning to each state’s government to decide, there are still many states that have and will continue to keep abortion centers open and operating. So, as people who value the dignity of the unborn and believe in a God who created all life with purpose, how do we respond?
First and foremost, we respond with compassion and empathy. We remember that no matter how politicized the topic of life becomes, these are real women who are in distress and in fear. Women who are loved personally by Christ, no matter their life decision. We at My Life Clinic fight to remind every client that comes through our doors that they too, matter. Their story is important and their circumstances are valid. We encourage them to know they are worthy, seen and loved by their creator. We hope that they understand that because they are so deeply loved by Jesus, they too can love their unborn child. We then respond with grace. Grace for those who have previously had abortions and for those traveling across state lines to still obtain an abortion. We see Jesus respond to sin with grace in John 8, with the adulterous woman. We, in kind, respond the same. We ask the Holy Spirit to transform their hearts and turn to Him. Then we pray for healing for their hearts, as we know the life decision holds plenty of weight. Lastly, we respond with conviction, holding firm to the truth that Psalm 139:13-16 reminds us: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Despite a culture that pushes so harshly against our fight for life, we must remember that Jesus tasks us with taking care of the vulnerable (Ps 72:12, James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17). If we believe that God creates life with purpose and for His own desire, then who are we to choose to end that life? Let us fight the good fight, with compassion, empathy, grace and truth! In response to a world post Roe v Wade, we challenge you to pray about how you are to interact with this cause. Do you have a loving conversation with a friend that needs to hear the truth? Do you connect with a single mom that needs a little extra help? Do you volunteer at a Pregnancy Resource Center? Do you give financially? We pray that God guides your steps however He may see fit. All for kingdom purposes! |
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March 2024
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