May 5, 2024
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has provided more than 85 ultrasound machines to pregnancy resource centers since 2004 through what the organization calls the Psalm 139 project.
That includes 12 machines so far this year at a cost of about $40,000 each with training included.
“A powerful, though often overlooked method for helping protect preborn life is to provide a woman in an unplanned pregnancy a ‘window’ into the world of the child she is carrying,” the ERLC staff said in an article posted to its website this week. “Internal statistics from the pro-life ministry Care Net have shown that when women who are still in the process of making a pregnancy decision are offered the option to view their baby’s ultrasound image in a supportive pregnancy center environment, they are much more likely to continue their pregnancy.”
That’s why the ERLC launched the Psalm 139 Project, named for the Scripture that says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Ps. 139: 13-16).
“The purpose of the project is to raise money to provide ultrasound equipment to pregnancy resource centers and provide medical staff with the necessary training for operating the equipment,” the article said. “The initiative also plays a pivotal role in changing perceptions by helping people see that preborn children and mothers with unplanned pregnancies are not abstractions, but individuals made in the image of God and loved by Jesus. The project has received overwhelming response from pregnancy care centers expressing a need for new ultrasound equipment, indicating its positive impact and the demand for such resources.”
The ERLC called the men and women working in pregnancy care centers across the nation “the real heroes of the pro-life movement.”
“These centers come alongside families facing unplanned pregnancies to educate and empower more women to choose life for their babies,” the ERLC said. “And these centers wouldn’t be able to do this important work without the support of churches within their communities.”
