CSS committed to helping women facing difficult or unplanned pregnancies

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
MOBILE — Catholic Social Services Executive Director Marilyn King said she “doesn’t have a crystal ball” in regard to the recent Roe v. Wade overturn’s impact on the number of people seeking CSS help.
Regardless, CSS is there to support pregnant and parenting women needing help – just like it always has.
King said its pregnancy centers, 2B Choices for Women in Mobile and To-Be Options for Women in Robertsdale, served 706 clients last year, along with their babies. But most don’t come seriously thinking about an abortion. Instead, most are seeking support to raise their child.
“Very few of them come in to say they are abortion-minded,” King said. “We want to be here to support them and it’s really part of the Catholic Social Services continuum of services from the preborn all the way until death. That’s just who we are. We can help you along the way and we’re going to be here.”

2B Choices and 
To-Be Options  
for Women
At the core of CSS services for women facing a difficult or unplanned pregnancy are 2B Choices and To-Be Options. 
“Our primary purpose is to provide compassionate support for women facing a difficult or unplanned pregnancy by providing education and positive alternatives to abortion, and limited material and financial assistance,” King said.
The pregnancy centers do this by offering individualized “Earn While You Learn” pregnancy and parenting classes. 
The classes are for mothers during all stages of pregnancy and for parents with children under the age of 30 months. Clients can take the classes online or in-office. Those enrolled then earn “Baby Bucks” that can be used to purchase essential items such as diapers, wipes, clothes, car seats, pack and plays, strollers and other necessities from an in-house baby store.
“You can feel good that you took these courses and lessons and you earned that for your child,” King said.
To-Be Options and 2B Choices provided nearly 3,500 classes in 2021.  
The lesson plan is tailored to each mother’s individual needs. To-Be in Robertsdale also has a bilingual staff.
Women are also encouraged to bring the birth father to class for added “Baby Bucks.”
“We really encourage them to bring their birthfather in so he can start bonding with the baby and learn about the responsibilities of being a parent,” King said. “We encourage that family unit together.”

Adoption 
For birthparents who are considering adoption, CSS does place infants in approved homes of married couples and single individuals. Families are assessed by agency social workers to determine ability, readiness and commitment for lifetime parenting. 
King said it does not currently see many women considering this option, but stresses services are available for interested birthparents.

Other services
CSS offers free self-administered pregnancy tests. 
Results are confidential and clients are advised to follow up with their physician for confirmation of an in-office test result. 
CSS also has certified car seat technicans who can ensure a car seat is installed correctly and demonstrate proper installment. 

Outside Mobile 
and Baldwin counties
While CSS does not have pregnancy centers in its other locations, pregnancy centers unaffiliated with CSS do receive support from Catholic Charities and provide support to women facing a difficult or unplanned pregnancy. These include COPE Pregnancy Center in Montgomery, Mary’s Haven in Prattville and Wiregrass Emergency Pregnancy Services in Enterprise.

How you can be pro-life
King offered five suggestions on how to be pro-life and support CSS’s 2B Choices for Women and To-Be Options for Women.
n Support the Catholic Charities campaign, which is a major funding source for both programs. King said she’s thankful for those who support the campaign.
n Purchase a “Choose Life” license tag. Proceeds from tag sales are split between pregnancy crisis centers in each county.
n Host a “Baby Bottle Boomerang” at a parish, school or elsewhere. Participants take home a plastic baby bottle and deposit loose change in it. The money is then used for pregnancy programs. St. Mary Catholic School recently held a boomerang and raised $4,320.50 in May.
n Host a baby shower at a parish. Have one or several bassinets that parishioners can fill with donations of baby wipes, new clothing, diapers, etc.
n Pray for those whom CSS serves.