“I’ve been a pregnancy center director for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this, post-Roe,” says Lyndsey Sikes, Director of Life Choices Pregnancy Resource Center in Monroe, Louisiana.
Nestled in the northeast corner of LA, West Carrol Parish brushes elbows with its neighbors in Arkansas and Mississippi. It’s as deep in the south as you can get. With humid weather, an abundance of churches, and fewer than 10,000 people scattered across its rural towns, you may not expect the words ‘abortion pill’ to be uttered here. But, on the contrary, behind closed doors, women in this isolated county are quietly searching for them online.
Meet Lyndsey: Monroe’s Leader in Women’s Life-Affirming Healthcare
In northeast Louisiana, Lyndsey Sikes has spent the last 20 years walking alongside women facing unplanned pregnancies. But since Roe v. Wade was overturned, she says, everything has changed.
“The type of woman we’re seeing now—it’s different. We only have seconds with her to reach her first. We have to meet her where she is,” says Sikes.
That’s exactly what she’s doing with her new Save the Storks Mobile Medical Clinic (MMC).
Since launching in May, the mobile clinic has more than doubled the Pregnancy Resource Center’s (PRC) outreach, partnered with local organizations to meet rural health needs, and shown up for women in remote corners of the state where abortion pill access is just one click away online.
Why the Bible Belt isn’t Excluded from the Abortion Pill Conversation
With no dedicated women’s health or OB/GYN specialist clinics in the county, and with Planned Parenthood clinics closing throughout the state, this area is a maternal healthcare desert. Women here face poverty and lack of transportation, meaning when they have pregnancy needs, their only answer might be one click away from Planned Parenthood’s website. But who will be there, in person? And how can we serve women without a brick-and-mortar medical clinic?
“It’s sickening. These pills come without oversight to women who are poor, isolated, and have no access to doctors,” says Sikes. Many of the women in this area are over an hour from any medical care, meaning if complications arise from taking the abortion pill, real danger to the women could follow.
The Mobile Medical Clinic fills a critical gap for women seeking reproductive health care in this corner of Louisiana.
How a Mobile Medical Clinic in Louisiana Is Meeting Women Where They Are
On their latest trip on the Mobile Medical Clinic, this PRC learned just how much their services are needed.
Lyndsey and her team went on a last-minute trip to the West Carrol Parish area. With no advertisement, they saw six women in one day. One woman who stepped into the clinic had just taken the abortion pill. Although it was too late for an abortion pill reversal, Sikes’ team served her by providing post-abortive counseling.
“Even though it was too late for that baby, it wasn’t too late for the mother. We were able to talk to her about healing and hope. About how, if she ever got pregnant again, we’d be there for her. That this resource exists, and she’s not alone,” says Sikes about the encounter. This was a stark reminder to her staff of the accessibility of abortion, even in states like Louisiana with strict abortion laws.
Another woman who stepped into the clinic came out of curiosity but left with a change of heart. While on the MMC, she opened up and said she’d had traumatic experiences with women’s health providers. It was something she had avoided for years. After talking to the staff on board, she said, “This has changed how I think about care.” And then she told them, “If y’all only came out here for one person, it was me. I needed this today.”
Sikes looks back on this experience with this woman, filled with new energy for their mission:
“She had an hourly job, walked everywhere. She didn’t have a car. And that’s exactly the kind of woman we had in mind when we first started praying about getting the mobile unit.”
Faith and Support Make All the Difference
None of these powerful testimonies would have been possible without the faith of each staff member of this Monroe, LA PRC, and the support of incredible donors through Save the Storks.
Support for our partner PRCs and their mobile medical clinics is vital. Without it, it’s impossible to see stories like these come from just one day on the mobile clinic.
“I always say, Save the Storks is the wind beneath our wings. We wouldn’t have even been there without them. The support they give to pregnancy centers is priceless,” Sikes says. “And when you see us out there in these rural communities, serving women no one else is reaching… I mean, how could you even begin to put a price on that? How do you even say thank you for that.”
You can help more women in rural areas like West Carrol Parish, Louisiana, get the care they deserve. Partner with us to keep mobile medical clinics on the road.
