“Real Alternatives”: Empowering women to make life-affirming decisions

By Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

Cable news host and mother of nine Rachel Campos-Duffy knows what real compassion for pregnant women should look like.

The Fox & Friends anchor discovered that compassion—as well as hope—when she learned about Pennsylvania’s ground-breaking Pregnancy and Parenting Support program, which is administered by Real Alternatives, Inc. 

In a clip that should go viral, Campos-Duffy recently spoke with Kevin Bagatta, the CEO of Real Alternatives, about how the landmark program has become a model for the rest of the nation. You can view the video here (Pennsylvania nonprofit provides support to pregnant women | Fox News Video).

For more than a quarter century, the Pennsylvania program has been empowering women to make life-affirming decisions for themselves and their families. The concept has spread to other states, helping to weave a safety net for women in the post-Roe era. 

The comprehensive counseling and support ensure that women’s emotional and material needs are met up to 12 months after their babies are born. From diapers to day care referrals, and from maternity clothes to mentoring, a network of pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies stand in the gap for pregnant women facing challenging times.

As celebrated law professor Helen Alvare once described it, it is “a program that doesn’t just play lip service support for mothers, for families, for children, to the fact that abortion is a tragedy, but it does something about it.”

To learn more about the program, please visit www.RealAlternatives.org