October 1--The Rev. John Ensor’s belief in the sanctity of human life led him to reach out to his Dorchester neighborhood in 1992. An ordained Baptist minister and graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, he has served churches in Omaha, Nebraska and in Boston. A native of Illinois, he has lived in Dorchester since 1985. He is the author of Experiencing God’s Forgiveness, which was published in 1997 by NavPress. 

On the day the first ultrasound tests were performed at the clinic on Dorchester Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts News sat down with Rev. Ensor to assess the past and their future. 

MassNews: What makes A Woman’s Concern different from the other pro-life ministries in and around the city of Boston? 

Ensor: There really wasn’t anything in this area that was focused on intervening on behalf of women who were looking for abortions due to their circumstances. Our focus is to lower the abortion fatality rate by reaching out to women who felt they needed to have an abortion. We did so based on our own experience with women saying, "If I had gotten help, I would have kept my babies." Based on that, we felt that at least half of women seeking abortions everyday are very open to alternatives — it’s just that they don’t know that there is an alternative. A Woman’s Concern is dedicated and organized and marketed to women who because of their circumstances feel they have no choice but abortion. We’re effective because if you change their circumstances, then women feel they can opt to give life. 

MassNews: How effective are you? And how do you know that you’re effective? 

Ensor: We know we’re effective because we have a whole list of babies who’ve been born of women who came to us looking for abortions. Our effectiveness is really somewhat dependent on how well we are able to address the critical concerns that a woman is facing. Right now about 50 percent of the women who come in here wanting an abortion will keep their babies. We hope with the use of ultrasound to get that closer to 80-90 percent. The number one reason women have abortions is a lack of support — they are usually trying to please a man. Men want abortions more than women. So a lot of what we do is to address the issue of support — even going after the father of the baby and getting him involved in the picture. When we can do that successfully, then most of the women choose life. 

MassNews: When you say "support," you’re not just talking about financial support. 

Ensor: No. Financial support is a big concern, but it’s not the real concern. It’s the emotional support. Can I do it? Who will help me? Can I make it over the long haul? That includes financial support, but it also includes presence — people being there, being involved. Most women don’t project themselves as being single moms, and they need help. That help has to come from the father. If not the father, it has to come from the extended families of these two people. If not the extended families, it has to come from the Christian community. If not the Christian community, then I think it has to come, as a last resort, from government resources. 
 

Services Provided By A Women's Concern

• Free pregnancy tests  • Free ultrasound exams  • Information about Pregnancy  - fetal development  - abortion risks  - procedures and alternatives  • Adoption information and referral  • Ongoing peer counseling and support

• Maternity and baby clothing  • Baby supplies  • Premarriage counseling  • Referrals for  - medical care  - legal or professional counseling  - post-abortion help  • Spiritual encouragement

MassNews: If government resources are to be a last resort, then is self-reliance one of your goals? 

Ensor: Our goal for each of our mothers is to give them a vision for self-sufficiency and independence. If they use government resources, they should see it as transitional. We try to teach a proper dependence. To be dependent on a husband or a father is not inappropriate. Men are especially called to be providers and protectors, and we try to raise that standard with the fathers of the babies. We get them more emotionally committed to supporting their children. 

MassNews: What are the populations that you serve? 

Ensor: Each of our centers tends to serve a different population. We have four centers. Here in Boston our clientele is primarily African American and between the ages of 18 and 24. In Revere we see mostly Hispanic, Catholic women. Needham tends to be more white, upper-middle-class college students or college-bound students. We really don’t know what clientele we’ll be serving on Cape Cod yet. 

MassNews: Have you faced any opposition, perhaps from the abortion providers, the neighbors or politicians? 

Ensor: No. A Woman’s Concern is a work that pro-choice people should be able to embrace. We give choices to women. Nothing that we do alters the legality of abortion. It lowers the abortion rate. But people who favor legal abortion say they want fewer abortions. 

MassNews: What about Planned Parenthood? 

Ensor: We do not receive support from people who profit by abortion. They oppose us — Planned Parenthood often tries to malign or steer women away from us. We’re an economic threat to them. But people who fundamentally support legal abortion have still recognized a need for the kind f services we provide and have credited the Christian pro-life community for doing so. It’s hard to fault the pro-life community for helping women through a crisis. More and more abortion defenders recognize that women don’t really want abortions. They resort to abortions more than choosing abortions. To be really pro-woman is not to tell a woman to resort to abortion. It’s to empower her to find the strength, courage and faith to fulfill her own instincts to protect the child growing inside of her. 

MassNews: What are A Woman’s Concern’s plans for the future? 

Ensor: We have a number of things we’re working on. We just finished a very big phase in our growth. We’ve just become the first in the state to transition from a counseling center to a medical clinic. We want to bring in the medical community to work more with us. We want to do more in abstinence education. We feel that being a credentialed clinic will help us get into some of the schools where Planned Parenthood is now. We hope to add a housing component to our work in the year 2000. A big problem for a lot of women is housing, so we need to find places for these people to live, usually in a structured environment. We’d like to start a home where we can work with five or six women at any time and give them concentrated help and support. We’d like to start some additional centers. We’d like to open a center in Brockton, which is a very needy area; we have a lot of women who come all the way up here on busses to see us. We’d like one or two more sites in the Boston neighborhoods. We’ll do that as soon as we can raise the support from the area Christians and churches. We’ve come a long way in seven years. We’ve gone from being $28,000 in debt to raising over $450,000 last year, building a medical clinic and operating four centers, all in seven years. Most churches are frustrated with the issue of abortion. They don’t want to go and get arrested and they don’t believe in violence. So they’re looking for something that is winsome, practical and life saving to be able to express their pro-life passions. And we provide that for them.