A little more than 50 years ago, a group of central Ohio women became aware of the work of Birthright, an organization founded in Toronto in 1968 to help women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Kathy and Pat Foley of Columbus traveled to Toronto to meet Birthright founder Louise Summerhill, and in 1971, the Foleys and others gathered at the home of Columbus resident Dorothy Hoelker to begin plans for a Birthright office in Columbus.
Dr. Thomas Hughes donated space for the organization on the second floor of his office at 481 E. Town St. It opened on April 1, 1972, with Edna Whitacre as receptionist. Hoelker and Whitacre died within a week of each other this year.
In the 50 years since its opening, Birthright Columbus has aided thousands of pregnant women in central Ohio, serving as what its director, Barbara McMullen, describes as “a friend to any pregnant woman, especially those who think no one cares about their situation.”
The organization will mark its 50th anniversary at a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at Mozart’s restaurant, 4784 N. High St., Columbus.
“Birthright is not a medical facility,” McMullen said. “Louise never wanted it to perform medical functions. Those are for agencies such as the Pregnancy Decision Health Centers and the Women’s Care Center in Columbus.
“Birthright is a place where a woman can go to and know she will be listened to and supported in a nonjudgmental way before, during and after pregnancy, regardless of her age, race, religion, marital status or financial situation.
“We help a pregnant mother form a plan that fits with her life, through listening first and then offering information and referrals for medical and financial support, housing, legal and social assistance, counseling and other services. We also offer the type of urine-based pregnancy tests that can be bought at stores and have diapers and a limited selection of baby items available. All this is free to anyone requesting our services,” she said.
“Birthright is not a diaper giveaway service,” said volunteer Pat Day, “but one thing we’re especially happy about is that we never closed during the COVID pandemic, at a time when there were diaper shortages, and we helped an awful lot of people by providing diapers and anything else they needed.”
“We’re an all-volunteer organization, we don’t have a big office and we don’t have a lot of things on hand. But God always seems to provide whatever we need to keep going. It was always Louise’s intention to keep our finances low because we’re here to help pregnant women, not to sit on money.”
“One of the great things about Birthright is that it doesn’t have any political or medical affiliations,” McMullen said. “We’re just here to support pregnant women. Now that the Supreme Court has repealed the Roe v. Wade decision and left the abortion question up to the states, we’re not getting calls related to abortion questions. We did get one recently from a man whose girlfriend wanted to have an abortion, but those kinds of calls are rare.”
McMullen said the best choice for a pregnant woman in a difficult situation and for her child sometimes involves allowing a couple to assume the responsibility of being the child’s primary caregivers after birth.
“We used to call that ‘putting a child up for adoption’ and ‘giving a baby away,’ but have come to realize these are terms that had their origins in slavery,” she said. “Now we use the term ‘making another life plan’ because a woman in fact is not giving up the child but has determined she needs someone else to raise him or her.
“The woman is always the child’s mother and under today’s laws has the right to petition for regular visitation with the child. When such cases work well, everyone benefits – the mother, the child and those who raise the child.”
McMullen said the number of volunteers assisting Birthright Columbus fluctuates, but it has a core group of nine or 10 who keep its office staffed every weekday except holidays from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Several volunteers have served the organization for more than 20 years, including Marge Kilanowicz, 26 years; Marcia Ball, 25 years; Day, 23 years; and McMullen, 21 years.
McMullen said that, based on the number of visitors since January, she anticipates about 200 women will visit Birthright this year for pregnancy assistance. That’s slightly down from the number of visitors in 2020 and 2021, which totaled 284 and 274, respectively.
“With the number of volunteers we have, it’s just enough to keep us busy,” she said. “It allows us more time to spend with women, and that’s the one thing we have to offer that other centers often can’t because so many people go there.
“For instance, the Women’s Care Centers often see 50 women daily because they offer ultrasounds and other medical services, but they can’t spend the time we can with people.”
Besides its locally based services, Birthright International also offers 24/7 help at 1-800-550-4900.
The organization doesn’t help only pregnant women. Estee Harris of Columbus said Birthright was of great assistance to him and his family – wife Tina and sons ages 15, 14 and 3 – throughout the pandemic.
He said he thinks of four things when describing Birthright to others. “First and most important, they are godly,” he said. “They enlightened me on matters of faith. Prayers are always a part of their interaction, and they have always anticipated our needs, before we even knew we needed anything.”
McMullen said another example of the help Birthright gives involved a woman from Egypt and her husband. Neither had a job, and the woman’s religion prohibits abortion, but she wasn’t sure what to do.
“I told her, ‘We’ll work together and see what we come up with,’” McMullen said. “I asked what her husband could do. She said he was best at working with his hands. It turned out the apartment complex where they lived needed a maintenance person, so he applied for the job, got it and was given free rent as well.
“The baby was born on my birthday, and they named her Barbara after me. That was about 10 years ago.
“The mother had been a nurse and wanted to work with the elderly in a nursing home but needed to take a certification course which had a fee. I called the Ohio Nurses Association, and it agreed to waive the fee. The mother later was hired by the Mother Angeline McCrory Manor nursing facility.
“We do everything we can to refer people for jobs and other things, but we ask them to make the calls themselves after we learn of something. Many don’t; this couple did, and it worked. I don’t know what happened to them afterward, but I hope they’re doing well.”
Until early September, Birthright had been operating from a location on West Mound Street for six years, but it has to move because its lease has run out. McMullen said Birthright’s new location also will be on the west side, but details of the move had not been completed when this issue of The Catholic Times went to press.
The organization remained in its original location on East Town Street for 16 years, then moved in 1988 to 22 E. Gay St. Subsequent moves were to 35 E. Gay St., then to a location on Skidmore Street on Columbus’ west side, across from Holy Family Church, and after that to West Mound Street.
Birthright also had a location on Columbus’ north side for nearly 45 years. It had an office at Christ the King Lutheran Church at Dublin-Granville Road and Interstate 270 from 1976 to 1980, then moved to a pair of buildings on the 4700 block of North High Street.
One of those buildings also housed a thrift shop that remained open until the pandemic shut most businesses in Ohio for a time in spring 2020. The shop did not reopen after that. The North High Street location was donated by longtime Birthright supporter Marjorie O’Neil, who died on Dec. 18 of last year.
McMullen said Birthright benefits from the generosity of many parishes and individual donors. Columbus St. Margaret of Cortona Church has a baby drive every October and annually fills a van with various items. Regular donations of baby blankets and washcloths come from the shawl ministry of McMullen’s parish, the New Albany Church of the Resurrection. A knitting and crocheting group from Groveport St. Mary Church donates blankets. A quilter from Columbus Holy Spirit Church who is downsizing her collection gave several quilts to Birthright. A Girl Scout troop provides rice sacks to help women deal with pain related to pregnancy.
McMullen said her organization’s primary material needs are for extra-large maternity clothes and large-size diapers.
Birthright receives financial support from a fund established with The Catholic Foundation by Dr. Edmond Goold to benefit pregnant women living on Columbus’ west side and from the Marian Foundation, but most of its funding comes from individual donors through events such as its annual luncheon.
This year’s luncheon will feature talks by Brittney Mellema, national director of Birthright USA, and by Estee Harris. There also will be a raffle with prizes including a television set, a Christmas quilt, a hand-knitted afghan and a $50 Kohl’s gift certificate, and a silent auction with themed baskets and a hand-knitted afghan.
Tickets for the lunch are $50 per person, with raffle tickets at $2 each or three for $5. Checks may be made payable to Birthright Columbus. The reservation deadline is Saturday, Sept. 24. Reservations may be sent to Mary Jo Mayhan, 291 S. Virginia Lee Road, Columbus OH 43209.
For more information about Birthright, call McMullen at (614) 221-0944 or go to www.birthright.org/columbusohmain.