The ProLife Team Podcast
The ProLife Team Podcast
The ProLife Team Podcast 96 | Shawn Zierke & Jacob Barr | Talking About How We Are Better Together
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Welcome to the ProLife Team podcast. I'm Sean Zerke and I'm here with Jacob Barr. And we're stronger together. We're going to talk about the National Association of State Pregnancy Wellness Coalitions and how we're here to support and encourage existing state pregnancy center coalitions or the formation of new state pregnancy center coalitions.
SPEAKER_05So Sean, I'm excited to have you on the ProLife Team Podcast again. So let's dive into the state coalition, yeah, the coalition of coalitions. Tell us um, yeah, tell us where you are and how you've gotten here with this new new venture.
SPEAKER_02So um first of all, my name is Sean Zerke. Um I have been in the pregnancy center world since 2005, and um having converted a pregnancy counseling center and um starting a um pregnancy medical clinic organization from scratch and uh all the way until now, where I have a Xerki consulting group, and one of the lanes that I run in is using my MBA in social entrepreneurship, which is the business of nonprofits, to help form state coalitions of pregnancy centers in a post-ro world. And so um out of that, about a year and a half ago, my best friend and I, who is also a leader in the pregnancy center world, um we said, hey, wouldn't it be awesome to have a national coalition of state pregnancy center coalitions? And um we're just kind of dreaming. And then there are other groups that were also having those conversations. And honestly, since I am doing it every day, helping states like Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and the list goes on and on of states that I'm helping form their state coalitions, I just uh created it with a conversation amongst a couple of us pro-life leaders. The problem is we're not state pregnancy center coalition leaders. And honestly, not appropriate for us to be in long-term um board leadership because we don't qualify for membership of our coalition at a national level. But that's okay. We just got it done. We created the blueprint and framework to bring people along board on board and alongside that were ready for this national organization. And so um the National Association for State Pregnancy Wellness Coalitions was formed. Articles of incorporation filed in the state of Florida, which is where I live, and we had a founding board, and um, as of today, we have um a slate of um functional officers. So the president of our national coalition is Jim Sprague, and he is the president of the board for the Michigan Coalition of Pregnancy Centers. The um vice president is Lisa Maloney, and she is the board chair or president of the Connecticut Pregnancy Center Coalition, which coincidentally was formed in 2015 and formalized in 2017 as the first 501c6 pregnancy center coalition in the nation. Um Secretary is Marcia Middleton, and she is the leader of the Missouri Um Alliance for Life, and uh which is their State Pregnancy Center Coalition. They are a 501c3 organization and they do pass-through funding for pregnancy centers. We also um have for treasurer John Merwarth pending his acceptance of that appointment. He had to get off the call, he got voted in. Um, and John Murwarth is on the founding board of the Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative, which is their state coalition, also a 501c6 coalition that um I formed for them. Um then we have five regions, and um we still have some at-large positions um of our uh board. Northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest are still open board positions. But the Midwest director on the board is Savannah Martin, who is the um director of the Ohio Coalition of Pregnancy Centers, leading 123 pregnancy centers in a very um tight, cohesive, informal coalition. They have not formalized yet, um, as far as the IRS is concerned. And they have five regions in their state. So um, and I was the president of the forming board, but now I am the um executive director of the national coalition. So um that's where we're at right now. We are um our meeting today that we had coincidentally um included uh Heartbeat and CareNet, uh, as they're getting calls all the time from state pregnancy center directors uh in various states about either forming a coalition, what do I do, help give me advice, what are other states doing? And so they really want to see this happen. So, would you like me to tell you what this national coalition would love to be able to do?
SPEAKER_05Yes. Yep, that's uh one of the questions I'd like to have covered. So, yeah, go go ahead and keep going. This is really good. Um, yeah. So what are the yeah, what are the highlights of what you know, what are the current goal lines or directions you would like to go with this? So number one, can we say that to the name one more time?
SPEAKER_02It was National The National Association of State Pregnancy Wellness Coalitions. Of state wellness NASPWC. Okay, and it is the website is www.naspwc.org. And the email address that you can reach me at is admin at naspwc.org.
SPEAKER_05Okay, perfect.
SPEAKER_02Um so we are really interested in encouraging state coalitions to uh form in this post-war row era, excuse me, after the Dobbs decision, and the fight has gone to the state. And honestly, this isn't new to states, this is just new to some states because um the deceptive advertising um practices accusation um was uh codified in Connecticut um a while ago, and so they're up against that. You already know what is supposed to go into effect in Colorado on October 1st, which is um that APR cannot be conducted by, well, that it's just you can't do APR, uh abortion pill reversal, with the exception of one uh clinic, Bella, and uh and they're in Denver. So bottom line is there's a very coordinated effort across the nation to um shut down help for mothers and babies who uh are in need, and there hasn't been this huge coordinated effort, unified coordinated effort, to address the needs that women have facing an unplanned pregnancy. Because whether your state has banned abortion or limited access to abortion, or has unlimited access to abortion, the reasons that a woman would even seek an abortion don't change. They are either in school and think they can't finish, they are in an abusive relationship, they may be addicted to drugs, they already have other children and can't afford child care, they lack housing or there's food insecurity, they don't know where to get help, uh, they know mentorship. There's, I mean, the list goes on and on. That's why her plan is so amazing because of how they develop their directory to cover all those areas of need. Um, but a national association of state pregnancy wellness coalitions can really help with that unified message. Right now, um, our treasurer John Merwarth just said today, and he made this great point, that there's definitely a public relations campaign for pregnancy centers, but it's run by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is out there telling the world what they want the world to think pregnancy centers are. Pregnancy centers do not have that type of coordinated messaging to really inform lawmakers and the general public and businesses of what pregnancy centers do across the nation. And that's one of the very first things that needs to happen. Savannah Martin, who is over our entire Midwest of the National Coalition, she also leads the Ohio uh coalition. She made a really good point at the CareNet conference on a panel discussion about coalitions. And she said, pregnancy centers are only as strong as their weakest center. And the weakest center that is not following standards that is I'm not even going to name the things that we see happen, but it the problem is if CNN finds that weakest link and uses them as an example of what pregnancy centers are. And we can't have that. States need to come around all of the pregnancy centers, small, rural, um, limited funding. Um, maybe they're dabbling in medical, uh the medical side of things, and they need guidance, they need standards. This is where state pregnancy center coalitions can come alongside those leaders and shore them up with um mentorship, relationship, confidants, uh, standards. They can share their best practices. Heartbeat and CareNet and NIFLA are all there to help as well, but having your peer, another CEO or executive director at another center in your state, come alongside you is even more powerful and helpful and often less costly, to be frank. Um, so the part our purpose is multifaceted. We want empowerment and support. I mean, at the core, we aim to empower state pregnancy wellness coalitions by providing lobbying training and support. We truly understand that effective public policy and legislation can make a significant difference in the lives of the women and the families and the babies that are served by these pregnancy centers in every state. So we want to offer public relations, media training, unified messaging source that accurately represents pregnancy help organizations in all of our state coalitions. And it's this cohesive approach that will enhance the and influence the reach of each of the state coalitions at their state level. So, to talk a little bit more about policy advocacy and legislative support, we want to offer some nuanced policy interpretation when legislation is proposed in various states. We want to be able to have these state coalitions propose appropriate policy language to lawmakers in their state that they can find common ground with. And honestly, we want them to be able to explore funding options at the state level in states where they can make some headway with that. We really do recognize the importance of protecting local groups while advancing pregnancy wellness initiatives. So we want uh to provide expertise and recommendations on the eight alternatives to abortion funding, temporary assistance for needy families, TANA funding. Um, and we really want to proactively address and defend the accusations of misleading advertising tactics and allegations related to fake clinics. So the way to do that is encourage state coalitions to form, give them that supportive framework at the national level and be that resource for each of the state coalitions.
SPEAKER_05Wow. So it sounds like one was one of them lot a lobbyist that might be at the federal level or maybe supporting local state lobbyists. Was that one of those?
SPEAKER_02Or yes, lobbying support, advocacy, legislative advocacy. So yes. Um when I help form state coalitions, part of the package of hiring me to form your 501c6 that I do out of my consulting group, um is that I give lobbying training.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Yeah, and then also I really like the fact that you, you know, when it comes to the having state coalitions formed where we currently either have no state coalition in the state, or maybe there's one that's struggling, perhaps, or maybe not um healthy or growing. Because it's it feels it seems like the state coalition would be the best player to know the other to know the clinics within their state, and be able to provide really excellent advice on how to best spend um grant money, as well as you know, essentially connecting privacy clinics with these funding sources in a way that doesn't compromise their ability to provide service and care and also to grow with additional funds. It seems like there's this opportunity here uh for understanding funds as well as um knowing how to spend funds well versus maybe it being a political game.
SPEAKER_02We have several um coalition members, including our new secretary of the National Coalition, Marsha Middleton, as a 501c3 pass-through funding um coalition for their state pregnancy centers. They are great when it comes to being a resource for other states that want to form as a C3 and be able to manage that funding. Uh, a new one who was just granted that access was the West Virginia Pregnancy Center Coalition. And so they just won the bid to be the pass-through funding organization for their state pregnancy centers for those newly appropriated funds. I'd like to tell you a little bit about the types of coalitions we'd love to encourage formation of, yeah. Um and what what differences that there are that are currently out there.
SPEAKER_05That sounds great. Yeah, let's go over the different types.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay, so the first is an alliance for combined action, which includes lobbying or group buying power, um, that fosters relationship building among its members as well. So not only is it legislative um advocacy, but also leader and uh organization building kind of goes to that whole um statement or idiom that a rising tide lifts all ships. So if you can really identify the leaders that are new in your state and pair them with mentors that are seasoned and experienced and really successful in uh donor development and leadership and expanding their services or really being able to match their services to the needs of their community so they aren't getting caught up in mission drift. Um those are the relationships that we'd love to see in, and it's either as a 501c6 or an informal coalition that has a lot of active members. Um, the next would be a formal 501c3 um coalition specifically for networking purposes within a state. Um, another would be an informal but active coalition consisting of at least five pregnancy help organizations, maternity homes, uh, andor adoption agencies that are in a particular state or region, um, but are regularly meeting and um are very active. So, in in that second one, the 501c3 ideally they are also a pass-through funding organization in a state, but they may or may not be. Um really don't want to endorse a coalition that's merely a directory-only website that lists all the privacy centers in a state. Um, and organizations that are just funding distribution entities without active networking or a their division of a state government, um, or groups, uh small gatherings of fewer than five organizations probably wouldn't count as well. Ideally, we would like to work towards entire states being unified into one coalition um formalized in some way.
SPEAKER_05That's definitely would a state have a purpose for both a pass-through 501c3 slash networking alliance of group or group as well as the 501c6, or you know, is there a need for more than one entity type per state? Or is it ideal to have one entity per state?
SPEAKER_02So you can have a um a parent-child relationship uh with a firewall in between. Um typically a 501c6 doesn't administer state granted funds. Uh a 501c3 would, um, but you could have um a child corporation that is a a different entity type.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so one entity could include both types by being, you know, there's there's a parent umbrella and then a child organization underneath it. Would the C3 or the all of board members? Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So would the C3 be the parent or would the C6 or uh it just depends on the state and the organization, where they're at in their life cycle, where are funds going to move, how are funds going to move. So I can't really um prescribe that right now. Uh it's very customized to some extent.
SPEAKER_05But that makes sense that there could be one entity per state and cover the different purposes. That are sometimes limited to certain entity types, because one entity could include additional entities of a different type in order for certain functions. That makes that seems to make sense.
SPEAKER_02So if your problem is legislative issues and attacks and so laws, attacks, lack of funding, and you want to be in the legislature protected in a 501c6, form a 501c6. When you are successful in your state, I'm not going to say if, but when you are successful, you can transform your six to a three and become that pass-through entity. You can never go back to being a C6, however, once you become a C3.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02And it has to do with the assets and perpetuity um issue.
SPEAKER_05So for those who are listening, yeah, so if so let's say there's a pregnancy clinic listening. Um how what questions should she be considering as she's thinking about the coalition of coalitions? Let's say we have a director who's listening and she's thinking, you know, how might this affect my clinic? What questions should I be asking or looking into to see, you know, you know, how this will affect what you know what I'm doing in my county?
SPEAKER_02So um I have a list of questions. Let me bring them up.
SPEAKER_05You're so organized. Wow. Very good.
SPEAKER_02I would already have it had it loaded. Are you really surprised? Come on.
SPEAKER_05Not really. No. I figured you would have had a PowerPoint ready to this game. You probably do have a PowerPoint ready to go.
SPEAKER_02Almost. So um, so the first questions you want to ask yourself as a pregnancy center leader in your state about what type or whether you need to form a coalition is first, are the pro-life organizations in your state representing the interests of pregnancy help organizations, maternity homes, andor adoption agencies? So about 70% of the responses I get when I ask this question are no. I don't feel it right to life or family values or other, are really getting what pregnancy centers do. Or maybe sometimes they do, but then they're saying things that have nothing to do with us, and then they end up not really representing what pregnancy centers need. Um, they're certainly not delivering the message of what we do every day to counter the PR campaign that Planned Parenthood and the like have about what they want the world to believe pregnancy centers are. So then, however, there are some states where these other organizations are cheering on pregnancy centers to form a state coalition so that when their right to life, their state right to life, their state family values, their uh state Catholic conference, and so on are registering positions on bills as lobbyists, that your state coalition of pregnancy centers are now adding an additional position on a bill. There, you've got another person, another entity representing all the pregnancy centers in the state now sitting at the table with lawmakers, and your constituency is represented. You have a voice uniquely for pregnancy centers.
SPEAKER_05So let me jump in for a moment.
SPEAKER_02Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_05Well, before we go to the next one, would the the coalition of coalitions uh lobbyist or the the spokesperson, would that person then engage at the local state level in that dialogue, or would there actually be a unique person that's different for that state?
SPEAKER_02Ideally, there's a board chair or a hired executive director for the state coalition. Each state is different in um their composition and their budget. Um, but the national coalition would want to come alongside them and give them media training and talking points and shore them up. Uh, not to come and step in front of any state at all, but more to be behind in the shadows, um, encouraging them, guiding them, being a resource for them at the national level.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so so the local state would have a local champion whose wingman would be at the uh well national level providing support and resources. So essentially there's a very strong wingman, but the but the main champion in that state would be the local person who is completely um uh informed about local, you know, the local state level, and the support person would be more of like standards and national level advice, it sounds like or you know, no, no.
SPEAKER_02So here's another way to look at it. I can't I have a master's in public health and health management and policy, and I was the executive director for the Iowa Counties Public Health Association, which was a division of NATO or the National Association of County Health Organizations, and so um this would function much the same way. Um another example is you have um the National Association for Public Health, and then you have state public health associations. Uh so you have uh the National Association of Governors, right? And each governor governs their state. So the National Association um brings those leaders together to give them policy advice, um help with all of their state infrastructure, understanding of federal funding, uh opportunities and limitations, and so on. So those are all examples of how this might function for this to support the state pregnancy center coalitions.
SPEAKER_05Awesome. Yeah, let's go ahead and go on to your next point of yeah, what what a precise clinic director might um consider or think about uh when considering this coalition of coalitions and yeah, how she might want to you know connect with her local state coalition or maybe for help yeah, be uh part of that spurring of creating one if they don't have one yet or growing one if it's maybe in a state of needing to grow or or build.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So the next question is do you have an opportunity to influence legislation and funding for your organization but are fearful of lobbying and impacting your 501c3? And um so I sorry, I don't know if you can edit this middle part out, but my dogs are barking.
SPEAKER_05It's okay. It's an authentic podcast, so if we leave it in, it'll be okay.
SPEAKER_02Sorry about that.
SPEAKER_05Um, no worries.
SPEAKER_02Hey, it's better than the chicken that I just had to shoo away from outside of my office. The rooster, I mean. It's awful. Oh, okay. Anyway, uh you'd think I live in the country and I don't. Um so many pregnancy center leaders um haven't engaged in public policy and legislative advocacy because of the limits on that placed on them um as leaders of their 501c3 nonprofit uh organization. So um if they haven't done that, then if they formed a 501c6 organization, for example, they could take their hat off of executive director for XYZ Pregnancy Center, which is a 501c3, and then step into their role as a member of their 501c6 state coalition, and they can lobby without fear as they represent their 501c6. Wow. Um yes.
SPEAKER_05And so it sounds like they probably would want to keep that 501c6 and have a 501c3 as well, possibly more so than just converting it. Just because they would be able to lobby it.
SPEAKER_02Every single state is different, every single state is different of where they're at with um laws and um what their fight is currently.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um honestly, if you don't have a funding opportunity to pass through, there's a strong argument to not worry about being a C3 right now. Because if you're effective at the 501c6, you can convert to a C3, but you just have to remain that way forever. Um the other thing about forming a coalition, whether it be a C3 and formal, C4, C6, is do you want to create a mentor and mentee opportunity for pregnancy center directors in your state? Do you want to shore up other leaders? Do you have um a set of very new young leaders and a set of um leaders that have been doing it for 20 plus years and maybe they lack a succession plan, but they can pass on their knowledge? And so there's so many things that can be done as a group, yeah, in a state. And then the last question is do you want to improve opportunities for health benefits and medical liability coverage rates and other purchases for all organizations in your state? So as a 501c6 state coalition, you can um look at group buying power in order to improve the um expense the or lower the expenses for all of your members in certain areas that you can negotiate group buys.
SPEAKER_05What's an example of a group buy, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_02So several um association level uh organizations negotiate um insurance coverage rates for everyone in their coalition that steps in and buys in that is l lower than if they did it individually one-on-one, each organization.
SPEAKER_05That makes sense. There's probably lower risk too for the insurance company to have a group as a whole.
SPEAKER_02It's also a guaranteed sale. I mean, if you're in Ohio and they have 123 pregnancy centers and you decided to be a C6 there with group buying power, if you are an insurance provider, wouldn't you much rather have a guaranteed 123 buy into your group uh at a lower rate than to worry about dealing with each one individually, even if it was a slightly higher rate?
SPEAKER_05So yeah, it's cutting down a lot of sales and uh reducing admin. Um so that reduces costs. Yep. Um, which makes a lot of sense. That's probably if my if I had a ballpark it, I would say that's like a 15 to 20 percent discount just on admin and sales work.
SPEAKER_02That and I mean there's things like I mean, what are you using for um banquet planning? Or are do you have a whole state that is being accused of being a fake clinic? Maybe you're looking at triple HC accreditation. So can you co-op that as a state coalition uh to some extent? Some are very individualized, but um you know, there are things that you can do for your state coalition members in bulk, that um maybe you can negotiate a coalition price contract with Sterecycle or Medline or the CDD. These are all expenses the pregnancy center leaders are used to having.
SPEAKER_05So that would also have economy of scale applied. Yeah, that's good stuff. So out of the, you know, out of the states, um you know, what what amount of states are maybe don't have a state coalition that would fall into these different categories, or which ones, or how many might have um state coalitions that are in a in a position where they need um life support or growth, or maybe um rehoning into the pregnancy clinic space, maybe they've gotten, maybe they've had mission mission uh uh you know, their mission has shifted and you know essentially need to sort of refresh back to um yeah, you know, standards that are more common amongst the as a whole.
SPEAKER_02So um there are I don't have my list of or I'll tell you exactly who I believe they are. Okay. Or they may need to consider becoming a 501c6, or they have no coalition at all currently in the US. Um there are probably more, but there are for sure 18. Um but there are over 25 formalized coalitions of some kind, whether they be regularly active and meeting, uh, they're a C3 or a C6.
SPEAKER_05Awesome. And also I could imagine a coalition of coalition providing um sort of like with the messaging idea of you know, providing messaging that could then be provided to all the coalitions when it comes to graphics or something that we know, having an economy of scale take place where someone can receive something and then use it locally. I could imagine there being other things that could be built at the national level that could then be recycled per state. And I feel like there's a lot of opportunities for recycling really good pieces per state when there's pieces that can be recycled or they're evergreen amongst every state, or they're usable by every state. And so there feels like there's a really great opportunity for um for raising the quality of something because you can, you know, and then because it's gonna get used many times across the country, um, and there's yeah, probably room for some great economy of scale um by yeah, supporting so many state coalitions with pieces that can be used at a variety or several or all.
SPEAKER_02Well, and you know from the marketing side that unified messages heard over and over and over and over change thinking. And that's the one thing that pregnancy centers haven't had is statewide unified messaging as well as national unified messaging. And there are many ancillary organizations out there fighting for pregnancy centers, but their focuses are this and pregnancy centers, or this and women and babies and mom moms. Um, but nothing has been uniquely to pregnancy centers in um at a national unified message um that in this post-roa era, I think that we're just getting momentum. Um some of the national organizations like Heartbeat and CareNet and NIFLA, um they are great resources for when you um are in the day-to-day at the pregnancy center level. But um and I know that they want to see state coalitions formed and a national coalition supported um for things that they aren't doing. Not because they can't they won't, but it's that it's not their lane.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And it's interesting that um, well, Kiernet and Heartbeat were, I believe, both created in response to to Roe. I know that Heartbeat was, and I believe Kiernet probably was as well in direct response to Roe. And it's also interesting that here we are a few years after Dobbs, and you know, Roe essentially took the fight mostly to the federal level, but then we we still had the state level fight, but the federal level was the primary fight, and the state level fight was secondary because of Roe. And now that Roe has been overturned, the primary fight is now at the state level. Not that the federal level is gone, but they have shifted.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, between first priority and second priority, they have shifted, and now the state level is the pr is the primary fight, and the federal level still exists, but it now I would say it's shifted into the secondary position. What are your thoughts on that? That's just me reflecting. I don't yeah, but that seems like that's true.
SPEAKER_02It flipped. I mean, yes, we would love to have um abortion uh eliminated at the federal level, and therefore then take that back from the states. But the reality is right now, um you we don't have that. The fight is at the state level. And you know, while they like to, I just saw a recent report saying that once um these different states banned abortion, they stopped counting abortions in those states, and it's really sad that they're doing that because um chemical abortion, male order abortion is uh prolific, and those aren't officially being counted, and then if you layer onto that abortion tourism or border state abortion, um they also aren't being counted. So you the reality of what's going on and where the fight is still at um is not fully transparent. So the honestly, these state coalitions know better than anybody who is going across the border. Um, they can talk to marketing uh companies like iRapture or Life Advancement Group or Choose Life or um uh Fila Media and so on. I mean, the list goes on and on. Sorry if I didn't list you and you heard this. Um just coming to mind all at once. But all of you can show what Google search words are high and hitting out there in various states. You can see where that geofence results are, and so you know where this stuff is actually happening. You know that in Texas women are still looking to get an abortion, even though the heartbit bill heartbeat bill has been on the books. Same with Tennessee.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So Yeah, and well, yeah, because they can go to New Mexico or Illinois. There's border, there's borders that are yeah, with different different rules, different laws.
SPEAKER_02I would love to see um a state that has an amazing governor and legislature that has appropriated a um a great amount of funds to look at possibilities for how they could really capture these women that are seeking um mail order abortion online and Eliminate it. Just say, you know what, our state's going to take the lead and we're going to um invest in a plan to eliminate this nationwide. That would be pretty amazing. I have a couple states in mind that could do that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. It seems like that'd be um I'm trying to imagine how the post office would would process or you know how law enforcement would process that. Um wondering I'm wondering how law enforcement or or um a state could essentially prevent mail. Yeah, essentially I I I find it difficult to understand how they would prevent mail from certain sources because of ali you know maybe they could send it without having the return address. I don't know. It just feels like there's that'd be difficult. It feels like that would be really difficult to prevent mail.
SPEAKER_02Um they they want to say we ban mail order. Okay. Well these people are trying to kill babies. Do you think that they're gonna follow your state law?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I don't think uh I well I know they won't because I've you know, based on what I've seen, you know, there yeah, the law is not it's just yeah, it's um yeah, it's a it's a hard fight. It's a hard one to that's a hard one. But I feel like it still needs to be worked on. I don't I I wouldn't disagree there, but I would say it's it's a difficult um problem to solve. And it also needs to be but I guess before you can solve something, you have to get buy-in to or you know, you have to get the you know, approve the idea before you can actually then work on figuring out that and you know getting a state to to have the buy-in to want and desire to figure it out is probably the the the place where many states are probably at. I don't know. Actually, I I'm sort of speaking out of turn there because I don't really know where they are at with that, but um but just in general, buy-in's important first before trying to get into the details of figuring out a strategy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So state coalitions. Well, really, yeah, um, opportunity with support from a national organization now.
SPEAKER_05And I love the fact that the yeah, the state co the coalition of coalitions is made up of excellent leaders from state coalitions. That seems like a really good recipe. And uh and also I love the fact that many state coalitions are made up of uh pregnancy clinic directors or pro-life leaders from that state. That also seems like a good recipe. Um and yeah, so I feel like that's you know, it's really it's really sort of um empowering those who are doing good work to to really um to help each other. Um yeah, here we are. We're talking about it on the pro life team podcast, and I feel like this is a really very much uh I would call this a pro life team effort when it comes to helping helping friends with similar missions and the same vision and you know really, yeah, it's sort of yeah, uh all working together, um serving Jesus, you know, not siloed, but working working to support each other in this great mission of um honoring uh uh babies that are in the womb who reflect in a unique image, yeah, unique image of God, and yeah, and working together to to honor and rescue those who are being led to the slaughter.
SPEAKER_02Um, one of the biggest um messages that we could probably bring out of our meeting today with the National Association of State Pregnancy Wellness Coalitions is the desire for unity amongst pregnancy centers at the in states and among the states. And if we can help forge that unity and unified messaging and shore up all of the state coalitions to meet the goals that are unique to each of their states and their state leaders, that's what we would really desire to do at the national level.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I feel like Marsha Middleton's group, Alliance for Life Missouri, to me is a a gold standard or a beautiful example of networking at the state level with with pricey clinics and life-minded organizations um essentially having relationship with each other and supporting each other. Um and I get to glimpse I get a I get a glimpse of it when I go to their their state conference each year. But it to me it's a it's something that I would like to see uh emulated and and uh replicated um because I think it's a really good experience and I f I feel like that's it it makes sense that that would be a good example. And so I'm glad that she's uh she was the secretary on the on the board, which is great. I think that's I'm really glad to see that she's putting putting in her her experience to help help with this. Um so what are your thoughts on the the nickname uh cola cola or the cola of colas? I'm not a fan.
SPEAKER_02I told Brandon, I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of that. Um catchy the National Association of State Coalitions. That's a way of abbreviating it.
SPEAKER_05Okay, that's good. Yeah. Um well thank you so much, Sean, for well, for really just using your your your your skills, your your talents, your your wisdom, um and really just going, you know, working on the things that need to get done and uh while also you know connecting and networking with people who are like-minded and yeah, so I feel like it's we're yeah, I'm really glad that you're on our team as a as a whole, working to um yeah, just draw us into better networking and sharing more resources and ideas and and that obviously includes support, um, grants being distributed in a good way. Uh that includes communicating with um political uh representatives in a healthy way. And yeah, just all of that seems really good. And and I feel like this really represents you know the the shift from yeah, from states being secondary to now being the primary um place where work is being done and the federal level has yeah shifted to second the second spot. Um and um a lot of work to be done. So yeah, and I I I too really enjoy uh Heartbeat and NIFLA um as well as CareNet and just these different groups that are working really hard to provide support and education and training and and uh and supporting pregnancy clinics in several ways. But with the DOBs, I feel like we have yeah, uh the needs are shifting and the and the and uh the work has shifted as well. And so this is really exciting to see yeah a new a new a new entity formed to support state coalitions and really excited to see state coalitions that are you know maybe they've they've had their ups and downs, you know, seeing them gain momentum from from other other coalitions, as well as seeing the coalitions that have not been formed yet getting formed and and getting formed with a support system. Like this is this this sounds really good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm excited um for when California decides to form their coalition. Um that will be a massive, um massive group with a huge voice.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's I I'm I'm connecting with a group there called CA Alliance. Um but I I I believe they only represent a small percent. Like I I would expect it's like 40, but there's such a large number of clinics in California. Uh if I had to guess, I would guess there's 350 or something like that. I don't I it's a large number, I would expect, in all of California when it comes to clinics. That's just my gut talking, but I do know that there's there's also there's the um uh the uh something, right to life league of Southern California, who has yeah, they're they're a group that's been there for a while. And then they're Internationalized Services, who has been um yeah, since Sister Polypath, they've they've been uh decreasing in their efforts a great deal. Um but yeah, they're also based out of Los Angeles County. Um there's probably other groups there as well. I can't think of them right now, but yeah, I do know they have a couple of groups. I don't think there's one that covers the whole well Yeah, there might be one. I don't know. There's a lot of groups there, and it's sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the groups. Um and some groups are call centers and maybe not really coalitions. Yeah, I think you know there's some call centers that are state-based. Yeah, yeah. Um but yeah, CA Alliance is one that I can think of, but I don't know yeah what their geographic scope is within California. But I don't think it's all of California. Um I need to find out. I just started connecting with them recently. Um but anyways, well so Sean, would you um wrap us up with a with a yeah praying for praying for this new effort and with the hopes that those who are listening will join in.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So um if we look at Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. And very simply is not neglecting meeting together as and encouraging one another. I just thank the Lord that He is a blessing, a unifying of leaders in the fight to save mothers and babies and families in this nation. And that doors would open, opportunities would present themselves, and that the Lord and the Holy Spirit would just nudge state pregnancy center leaders to either engage more fully in their state or in a coalition that exists, or that they would say, I can do it, I can bring a couple of my peers together and we can start forming this coalition. We need one in our state. And so, Father God, I just thank you for your unifying spirit, your provision, the divine appointment that you're bringing for all of these relationships, Lord. And as we dedicate our work unto you, Lord Jesus, with you as the focus and as the center, that you will then bless it, Lord, and your fruit will be seen in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_04Amen.com.
SPEAKER_01The ProLife Team Podcast is a ministry of iRapture.com.
SPEAKER_00If you would like to explore making a donation or becoming a sponsor, or have a recommendation for who would be a good guest on the podcast, please contact us at hello at prolife.team.