For nearly 20 years St. Joseph’s Helpers has been able to quietly work within central Arkansas to help pregnant women who are considering abortion or need assistance to raise their children.
It has moved offices five times around Little Rock, particularly targeting the abortion clinics in the city. In April, the agency known in the community as Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center was able to move across the street from the center of the abortion industry in Little Rock. Relocating near the only central Arkansas abortion clinic was the best move for St. Joseph’s Helpers, board president Maria Maldonado said.
“We have had four babies saved (since April),” she said. “We had four babies that were abortion bound and they were turned around. We had the first one in the third week we were open.”
Saving the lives of the unborn and helping women with crisis pregnancies are why the agency has endured the stress of little money to pay bills or too few volunteers.
The agency was founded in 1987 by Father Joseph Neilson, a Carmelite priest at Marylake Monastery in Little Rock. It was named after St. Joseph because he is a protector.
It has remained a non-profit organization committed to promoting the beliefs of the Catholic Church, especially about natural family planning and birth control, and only allows Catholics to volunteer.
Maldonado was recruited in 1993 to become the board president. In addition to her volunteer job, she is a second grade teacher at Christ the King School, director of elementary parish religious education and a sacramental preparation teacher.
The heart of the new offices, which were blessed by Father James West of North Little Rock on Aug. 19, is the chapel.
“Every morning we start with prayer,” she said. “We bless ourselves with holy water … When we kneel, we look at the crucifix and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the other saints. We get on our knees and we beg God to have mercy on those people.”
Every weekday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Maldonado and volunteers staff the office. When clients are not needing their free services, such as pregnancy tests, baby clothes, diapers and strollers, the volunteers are in the chapel praying or standing on the sidewalk outside Little Rock Family Planning to offer support to the women coming into the clinic for abortions.
Being near an abortion clinic is critical to being able to serve more women who are faced with unwanted pregnancies. Because the word “pregnancy” is in the center’s street marquee, some women get confused and come to St. Joseph’s Helpers. Other women change their minds once Maldonado or another volunteer approaches them on the sidewalk and offers to help them think through this major decision.
Three years ago, when St. Joseph’s Helpers was near another abortion clinic it would directly serve 1,000 women a year. This did not include hundreds of phone calls that come in 24 hours a day and Maldonado answers personally.
When the abortion clinic relocated, St. Joseph’s Helpers client caseload reduced to 350.
The new location has re-energized Maldonado for sidewalk counseling, a controversial but proven way to reach the women in need. At least two women Maldonado met on the street canceled their appointments for abortions and came over to St. Joseph’s Helpers for guidance.
“I have that call (from God),” she admitted. “If I know what is going on over there and if I don’t try to do anything that is within a Christian way of doing it … and I blind my eyes, I will be held accountable in God’s eyes.”
She appears to them more as a mother or friend, not as a pro-life protester. She doesn’t carry signs, only her rosary and brochures about abortion and diocesan pro-life services such as Catholic Adoption Services and Project Rachel.
“I look at the woman and she is hurting inside,” she said. “I see young girls in a crisis situation. … What I say to each of those girls comes from a prayer. … God knows that woman better than anyone else. He will tell you what to say.
“It is amazing what God does; it is not us. … We must never ever give credit to ourselves. … I never say, ’I am going to save those babies.’ The focus is through God.”
She said she teaches the volunteers that abortion is never the right decision even in the event of rape or incest.
“It is a life,” Maldonado said. “It is a baby. God has a purpose for the baby.”
Theo Wahlgreen, pro-life committee chairman at Christ the King Church in Little Rock, regularly prays outside the clinic. On the abortion clinic’s busiest days, Friday and Saturday, he watches cars come and go all day. He sees mothers bringing their children, as young as 11 years old, to the clinic from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
“I didn’t have the courage to do this for the first 45 years of my life,” he admits. “Being by yourself is intimidating because of how evil this place is.”
He said he can handle the threats and insults from passersby when he knows clergy and laity are supporting him and St. Joseph’s Helpers.
“We need to know someone has our backs spiritually,” he said.
Education to the Catholics in central Arkansas is another reason the agency exists, Maldonado said.
“We want to extend to them the news that Jesus respects all life. God is the creator of all life and we will respect life from the womb to the tomb,” she said.
She said extra donations of money, diapers, maternity and baby clothes and car seats and volunteers are always welcome.
“We have been so close to closing,” Maldonado said. “God wants it open.”
St. Joseph’s Helpers (Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center) is located at 3 Office Park Drive, Suite 102. Its phone number is (501) 227-7944.
