\n<\/p>\n
Getting pregnant at 15 hadn\u2019t been part of Anong\u2019s plans. The young Thai teenager ran away from home to live with her boyfriend\u2019s family, and though they helped a little, the young couple still felt at a loss about how to navigate their situation.<\/p>\n
What hospital should she go to? How would she get insurance? How would she take care of a child? Questions like these piled up and threatened to overwhelm Anong.<\/p>\n
Should she just abort? That would be easier, she confided in a friend.<\/p>\n
Months before Anong\u2019s dilemma, IMB missionary Beth Hipps began building a network of believers and healthcare professionals in Chiang Mai, Thailand, who desired to walk alongside those experiencing unexpected pregnancies.<\/p>\n
One of those believers heard Anong\u2019s story and called Hipps.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you come help her?\u201d Hipps remembers the phone. All she could think was that Anong was the same age as her own daughter.<\/p>\n
That day, Hipps and a friend were able to take Anong to a clinic for an ultrasound. Over the next few weeks, they talked through her questions and problems and helped her see she wouldn\u2019t be alone if she decided to give birth.<\/p>\n
Four months later, Anong gave birth to a healthy baby girl. As she settled into motherhood, she continued to have support from Hipps and other believers. She heard the gospel and knew her family was prayed for.<\/p>\n
This was a life-changing experience, not only for Anong and her family but also for Hipps. She\u2019d been praying and hoping to establish Chiang Mai\u2019s first crisis pregnancy center but had no idea how to start outside of building a network of connections.<\/p>\n
Working with Anong clarified for Hipps that helping didn\u2019t have to be complicated. More than anything, those in crisis needed prayer, support, and encouragement.<\/p>\n
Now, several years later, Hipps has helped found a crisis pregnancy center called the ELM Pregnancy Center that has seven care teams throughout Thailand.<\/p>\n
These teams show pregnant women and teens what their options are while walking alongside them, step by step, so that they have support at each stage of the pregnancy and for up to two years after the child is born.<\/p>\n
Care teams help women get ultrasounds and prenatal checkups. They teach them using a booklet that explains what they\u2019ll face during each trimester and how their babies are developing. This information gives women knowledge on how to prepare and what to expect in that phase of pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Care teams, made up only of believers, also seek opportunities to share their testimonies and the gospel. \u201cWe want to equip and empower women to choose life,\u201d Hipps said.<\/p>\n