My full-time job is saving babies from abortion.

It sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Picture it: boldly standing outside of Planned Parenthood and proclaiming the gospel to mothers considering abortion. Demanding, at a national protest, that our leaders reverse pro-abortion policies and push for more pro-life legislation. Hanging out with moms who have chosen life and are now letting us be a part of their babies’ lives, holding those babies a little while as their moms shop around our store.

While all those things are aspects of being pro-life, they are not part of my everyday life as a full-time employee of a medical pregnancy office; in fact, I only get to protest once a year at the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

At Promise of Life Network, we aim for a holistic approach for the well-being of our clients. We provide much more than a lecture about why murdering the unborn is wrong.

My job title is Healthy Relationships Today Coordinator. I speak with youth throughout my region about the importance of establishing healthy relationships and maintaining sexual integrity. A lot of it is about sexual risk avoidance (you might be familiar with the somewhat dated term abstinence—it’s the same thing).

I accomplish this by guest lecturing for health classes in about 34 different schools. I connect with youth pastors in the area to speak at youth groups. We make sure to have a presence on local college campuses.

When I realized that kids were turning to the internet for answers to very personal, sensitive questions about pregnancy, sexual development, and relationships, I began to develop a chat bot (an automated computer program that mimics a real person talking back to a user). Anyone could ask questions and receive life-affirming, abstinence-promoting answers that are science based and medically accurate. Zai, our chat bot, is in the final stages of development and is scheduled to launch early this year for national use.

We dedicate time to this because we believe it is important for kids to understand the role of sex in relationships and the natural consequences it has. Having a healthier understanding of relationships and sexual activity reduces abortion rates.

My department is only one of many at Promise of Life Network.

Have you ever connected with a pregnancy center in your area? They are called by many different names: crisis pregnancy centers, medical pregnancy offices, pregnancy resource centers, “fake clinics.”

If you haven’t, please do. Each one is a little different, but many offer similar abstinence programs, ultrasounds, and STD testing (if they are a medical office like we are), parenting programs, material resources to families in need, and fatherhood mentorships. They are vital resources in your community, and they need your support—now more than ever.

Like many other pregnancy centers, we struggle with the workload. There is so much to be done, and only so many resources available. In our case, we are privately funded by donors and churches, for which we are grateful. Material resources are absolutely necessary to operate our offices. But we are desperately short on volunteers.

I know what you’re thinking: “I can’t talk mothers out of having an abortion!”

That’s OK. We have professionals to talk to mothers about what their options are, to help them navigate the medical details of a pregnancy, and to administer ultrasounds and pregnancy tests. There is still a volunteer position available for every member of your congregation.

Perhaps you aren’t much of a people person, but you enjoy doing yardwork and are fairly handy. Not only do offices need to have some level of curb appeal in order to benefit their community, but the interior needs to be comforting, welcoming, and professional. Branches fall onto the property. Doors stick. Windows squeak. Walls need to be painted and floors need to be redone. Men, your local pregnancy center needs you and your chainsaw.

Maybe you aren’t very handy around the house, but you love children. Your local pregnancy center needs you, especially if they offer parenting programs.

Pre-pandemic, our office was full of small children playing while their moms took parenting courses and talked to dedicated staff members about their current life circumstances. We love having kids in the office (and are desperate for things to go back to “normal” so that we can see all of their sweet faces in person again), but it isn’t always feasible to have paid staff watching out for them while also attending to medical clients. Ask your pregnancy center about volunteering to entertain little kids while their parents receive the support they need.

What if you aren’t a handy person, you aren’t a people person, and looking after little kids just isn’t your thing?

Do you have computer skills? We need volunteers to help organize spreadsheets, sort through the thousands of student surveys we administer every year as part of the abstinence program, and make adjustments to our websites. We need people willing to test Zai, the chat bot. We need people with marketing skills to look over the SEO algorithms for our client website. We need people who understand Microsoft Excel better than I do to create our templates.

Children, do not think you are exempt from volunteering. Being pro-life isn’t something that is reserved for adults. We see you, we love you, and your local pregnancy center needs you. Many pregnancy centers rely on regular mailings and physical newsletters to keep donors updated. Those need to be folded, put into envelopes, and stamped. Donated clothes and toys need to be cleaned and sorted. Leaves need to be raked. Snow needs to be shoveled.

We understand that we are still in a pandemic and that not everyone is comfortable going into an office (and your local pregnancy center may be restricting volunteers from entering in order to keep their paid staff and clients safe). Stuck at home? Your local pregnancy center still needs you.

In 2019, we started raising awareness about the at-home abortion pill, RU486. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the demand for home abortions skyrocketed. We started a Facebook page to share the dangers of this particular method. As it turns out, foreign countries use Facebook in the same way that Americans use search engines like Google. Women from all over the world began to message us asking us for help in performing an abortion at home. We were given the unique opportunity to share the gospel with them and connect them to their local pregnancy center or church ministry. Many of those we connected them with are Reformed churches and missionaries overseas.

Since then, we have talked to over 2,000 women overseas and helped connect them with pro-life resources in their area, heavily focused in South Africa. We are truly blessed.

But we are also overwhelmed. The At-Home Abortion Facts chatline continues to receive clients—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—who are desperate for help in foreign countries. Our paid staff are unable to keep up with the demand on their own.

We are turning to volunteers to help manage the load. This volunteer position can be done from home, on your phone, at any time of day or night, from any state or country. If you’re a stay-at-home mom who just has an hour or two a week to volunteer but can’t travel, we need you. If you’re a young adult interested in missions but aren’t in the position to travel yet, we need you. If you’re a senior citizen staying at home during the pandemic but want to be able to interact with others in a meaningful way, we need you. Please consider volunteering your time to talk to these women. You can contact me for more information through the email provided.

It might sound cliché, but we desire your prayers more than anything. Pray for paid staff, that they may remain healthy and be sustained in their work. Pray for board members, as they work to assist staff and provide them with the resources needed to save unborn lives. Pray for volunteers, that they may use their gifts and talents for God’s glory to help save the lives of the unborn and vulnerable. Pray for clients, that the Lord would soften their hearts. Pray for the unborn, that they may be protected. Pray for our nation, as the pandemic continues and as politicians are elected who are able to make decisions affecting abortion laws.

Pray for your church. I have been so incredibly blessed by my church family at Rose Point (New Castle, Pa.) RPC. Pastor Charles Brown has patiently guided and supported me in times of anxiety, stress, and even anger as I work to help end abortion in whatever way I can. Your church can provide this same support to staff and volunteers of your local pregnancy center. Please volunteer, either individually or as a congregation. Your local pregnancy center needs you.

Mikayla Covington is the Healthy Relationships Today Coordinator at Promise of Life Network in Slippery Rock, Pa., and adjunct professor and doctorate student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa. She is a member of Rose Point (New Castle, Pa.) RPC, and resides in Grove City, Pa., with her cat, Cheeto. She can be contacted at mikayla@promiseoflifenetwork.org.