POLK COUNTY, Fla. — For pregnant women who lack family support, housing or health insurance, bringing a life into the world can be scary and overwhelming.
“It just breaks your heart to think about that desperate situation and that’s why we want her to know that there are all kinds of avenues,” said Marilyn Paul, Executive Director of Options for Women Pregnancy Help Clinic.
In the past five months, two women in Polk County disposed of their newborn babies after giving birth, but there are several organizations working to prevent this from happening.
“A lot of the women that come in are in unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. So we’re here just to give them all the information that they need so they can make an informed decision on their own,” Paul said.
Options for Women Pregnancy Help Clinic has four locations across Lakeland and Bartow. The clinic offers free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, as well as provides resources, including doctors who accept Medicaid. Patients are also counseled about the options of parenting and adoption.
"She may decide that she wants to have time with her child every birthday, every holiday. Be very connected or she may decide that she just needs to say goodbye and allow another set of parents to take care of that child, but she will choose the parents,” said Paul.
There is a growing need for their services in Polk County. “We’ve been very, very full scheduled and are going to be opening up some more hours for our patients,” Paul said.
A Safe Haven for Newborns is another nonprofit that offers free services, including a confidential 24/7 hotline for pregnant women seeking housing, medical care and counseling.
“The goal is to help the mom to keep the baby. If we get her help in the community where she can keep her baby, she does. The other issue is to have the baby at the hospital,” said Nick Silverio, founder of A Safe Haven for Newborns.
The organization has partnered with fire stations and hospitals throughout the state, so women can safely surrender their newborns.
A Safe Haven for Newborns has saved the lives of 371 babies. For those that did not survive, they receive a free burial. This includes the child that was abandoned in Lakeland last week.
“We’ve called the medical examiner's office this morning and told them that we will be willing to place that baby and have a Christian burial in our Garden of Innocence,” said Silverio.
You can call A Safe Haven for Newborns 24/7 multilingual Florida helpline at 1-877-767-BABY(2229).
