Van to be converted to provide local mobile ultrasound clinic to help save unborn children

Courtesy photo/ProLife Utah

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The recent ProLife Utah acquisition of a van, pictured, will help the organization provide onsite ultrasounds to pregnant women considering abortions at local clinics.

SALT LAKE CITY – ProLife Utah recently purchased a van that organizers hope will be a key tool in their fight to save unborn children from abortion in Utah. Once the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van is retrofitted, ProLife Utah will be able to offer free onsite ultrasounds to the women who visit Planned Parenthood and other such clinics to get abortions.

“I think it’s a game-changer,” ProLife Utah Vice President Deanna Holland said of the new van. “We can literally take that little clinic anywhere we need to.”

The van was purchased from Save the Storks in California and needs to be rewrapped with ProLife Utah messaging and have an ultrasound machine and other equipment installed. The organization is raising funds to achieve this goal, and hopes to have the van in operation at the beginning of the new year.

The van will need to be staffed with an ultrasound technician, a support person and a driver. While Holland is hoping to find volunteer technicians, ProLife Utah is prepared to pay for those services if needed, she said.

“This is a very important position because this is going to be the person that shows these women the humanity of their baby,” she said.

ProLife Utah is also seeking volunteers to fill the other positions. Because the organization is required to insure each driver, Holland is hoping to find two or three individuals who could make a long-term commitment to working one to two days per week. Male volunteers who can provide a level of security for the women would be ideal, she said. Support roles can be filled by either women or men. Shifts would be 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Initially the van will be parked by the metro Planned Parenthood clinic (the only Planned Parenthood that performs abortions) in Salt Lake City, but ProLife Utah organizers hope to expand to providing such services adjacent to other abortion clinics in the future.

According to Utah Department of Health statistics, 3,000 to 3,200 abortions are performed in Utah each year.

 ProLife Utah and its sidewalk advocates work to reduce that number by providing support to women facing unplanned pregnancies. Exact statistics on how many women respond to their efforts are not available, but advocates “work so hard for every single baby,” Holland said, adding that ProLife Utah can confirm that it played a role in saving 11 unborn children last year, but anecdotal evidence suggests more.

ProLife Utah’s sidewalk advocates being able to offer onsite ultrasounds to women outside the abortion clinic will open them up to the possibility of keeping their babies.

“They have that wall up,” Holland said. “The thing we are trying to do is to get into that wall to have her trust us by being super-friendly, very loving and kind and trying to see if we can understand what is driving her to that decision and how can we help.”

To donate to Prolife Utah, visit its Facebook page or its website, https://www.prolifeutah.org.