Knights of Columbus Ultrasound Program Assists Pregnant Women

Pregnancy Centers Receive Funding for New Medical Technology

From left are Florida State Deputy James Schonefeld, Faithful Navigator Dewey Marshall, Women’s Help Center President Roy Provost, Father Edward W. Murphy, spiritual director of  the center, center Diector Roy Hatten, Supreme Director Dennis J. Stoddard and Lloyd Belson.

From left are Choices Medical Clinic Treasurer Bob Sinclair, Board Chairman Brad Sherman, Development Director Rachel Owen, Iowa State Deputy Pat O’Keefe, Supreme Director David A. Bellendier and State Warden Joe Ramirez.

As the nation marked the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion on demand the Knights of Columbus launched a new initiative aimed at providing women considering abortion a new way of viewing the life within them.

The K of C Supreme Council, in cooperation with its state council affiliates in Iowa and Florida, today provided two crisis pregnancy centers complete funding for the acquisition of ultrasound machines that will help the centers better provide for the health of both mother and child. Ultrasound exams, which are medically indicated throughout pregnancy for a variety diagnostic reasons, use sound waves to scan a woman’s abdomen, creating a picture or “sonogram” of the baby in her uterus.

Without K of C support, these centers would be unable to purchase the ultrasound devices, each costing tens of thousands of dollars.

The Women’s Help Center Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla., received a check today from K of C Supreme Director Dennis J. Stoddard and Florida State Deputy James J. Schonefeld. Supreme Director David A. Bellendier and Iowa State Deputy Patrick T. O’Keefe presented a check to Choices Medical Clinic in Iowa City, Iowa.

“The sophistication of today’s medical technology provides a ‘window on the womb,’” said Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson. “Even from the early stages of pregnancy, a mother can see her developing child, hear the baby’s heartbeat, and to recognize the miracle of new life within her.”

The Knights of Columbus ultrasound project seeks to provide medically certifies pro-life pregnancy centers with the modern technology to monitor the health of babies in utero, and to allow mothers to visually experience that development.

The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest lay Catholic organization with more than 1.75 million members worldwide.  Last year, Knights gave more than 68 million hours of their time to charitable causes and donated more than $144 million to charity.