After-abortion care programs play a critical role in supporting women’s long-term healing and restoration, but there is a need for more data on client outcomes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programs, according to a March 16 Pregnancy Help News report.
“In a culture shaped by scrutiny and accountability, what remains unmeasured is the risk of being misunderstood or dismissed,” Tricia Lewis wrote in the commentary article. Pregnancy Help News states that Lewis is a former CEO of a pregnancy clinic, the co-founder of Reproductive Loss Network, and the co-founder of MyCareTrac, described as an “online software created to support those providing after-abortion care.”
After-abortion care helpers support these women amid their grief, “praying with them, and walking with them as they move toward restoration,” Lewis wrote.
However, much of the programs’ efforts occur outside pregnancy help organizations’ walls, taking place in churches, small groups, and conversations, and, “Because of this, the impact is significant but unmeasured,” she wrote.
Lewis noted that although the after-abortion care ministry continues to expand, much of the work remains difficult to measure due to limited capacity and a lack of shared systems for collecting reliable data.
“The data gap stalls research, shrinks funding, blocks collaboration, and keeps us from showing the world the fullness of God's restoring work,” Lewis wrote.
As a result, key questions about these programs often go unanswered, including how many people complete support groups or follow-up programs and whether participants who receive faith-based after-abortion care chose not to have another abortion, according to Lewis.
She also reported that in a post-Roe environment, pregnancy help organizations are facing heightened attention from policymakers and the media, reinforcing the need to demonstrate measurable outcomes.
Efforts underway to address these challenges include collaboration with the Abortion Recovery Coalition. This working group, with the help of research professionals, has developed a shared framework that will use pre- and post-program surveys to track changes in areas such as self-worth, depression and anxiety, abortion-related trauma, and spiritual well-being, according to Lewis.
The initiative will also provide outside audiences a “common language” to better understand the efforts of the after-abortion ministry, Lewis explained.
Improved data collection will also help reflect the transformative healing and restoration these programs seek to provide, she wrote.
“Good data offers tangible evidence of God making all things, all lives, new,” Lewis wrote. “It is, in fact, a testament to His goodness.”