Southeastern Students for Life shed light on the ever-present dilemma facing pregnant college students deciding whether to choose abortion, adoption or parenting.
The Restoration House Pregnancy Resource Center along with Southeastern Students for Life co-sponsored the presence of a Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Center on campus for the first time. Last Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. the center provided free and confidential services including pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, resources, pregnancy and post-abortive counseling.
“I believe that the baby is alive from conception, and I cannot condone or stay silent about these children that are being killed on a daily basis,” said Hailey DeLaune, president of Southeastern Students for Life and volunteer counselor at Restoration House. “The solution to the issue is things that promote life and the well being of all people, like Pregnancy Resource Centers such as Restoration House. Mothers can go to college and can succeed in life. There is help out there;  there are other options.”
In addition to providing resources for young women, the crisis center visit raised awareness of the Restoration House. Throughout the day members of Southeastern Students for Life passed out fliers in the Student Union with information for the mobile unit.
“Our purpose at Restoration House is to protect life and restore hope,” said Tara Hudgins, director of Restoration House. “We are a pro-life Christian agency founded in 1986, and we’ve been in Hammond for that long. Our goal is to give girls other options. We just encourage any of the pro-life choices, especially parenting.”
While abortion remains a controversy throughout the country, statistics on abortions versus adoptions are common.
“As far as abortion and adoption, abortion is significantly more common,” said DeLaune. “The statistics for adoption are something like one child gets adopted for every 100 adoptive parents looking for a child to adopt. The statistics for abortion in the US are 3,700 plus babies are aborted every day, and there has been over 50 million babies aborted since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was passed.”
According to Cindy Kouf, registered nurse for the Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Center, the biggest age group to have abortions is women between the ages of 18 and 20.
“Abortion is an issue on our campus, contrary to popular belief,” said DeLaune. “I talk to many women in the union who have had abortions, and we have way more college age girls coming into Restoration House saying that they want to abort their babies. Very little, if any, want to place their child for adoption.”
For women who have already had an abortion, the Restoration House provides post-abortion counseling.
“We have a program called ‘Forgiven and Set Free,’ headed by Dr. Morgan,” said Hudgins. “It’s a post-abortive curriculum that she’ll take them through. It’s a small group counseling setting. There’s a group starting within the next few weeks.”
While this was the university’s first visit from the crisis center, future visits are being considered.
“We’re hoping we can do this annually at least, maybe even twice a year,” said Hudgins.  
Enjoying the opportunity to be educated on important topics, students reacted positively to the event.  
“I think that it’s a really good thing to have them here,” said Allison Doan, a junior nursing major. “It gives some people the opportunity to have access to things they may need, and whoever makes use of the mobile pregnancy center can be educated on what their options are.”
Knowing how common unplanned pregnancies are in college, the Restoration House actively promotes pro-life options.
“I personally believe that unplanned college pregnancies are something that will happen in our society,” said DeLaune. “People are going to have unprotected sex, and they are going to have sex before they are married. Things happen. But abortion is not the solution.”
For more information regarding the services provided by Restoration House, visit resthse.org or call 985-542-0492.