In this interview, we delve into the heart of a small yet impactful organization in Denver known as My Choice Resource Center. Travis, a host on KLTT Radio, warmly welcomes Pam Behler, the director of My Choice, to talk about the nonprofit’s immense contributions to the community. Located at 8380 Zuni Street, My Choice is a beacon of hope for many, providing essential services like free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and vital guidance for those dealing with unplanned pregnancies.My Choice stands out not only for its services but also for its approach to inclusivity. As Pam explains, the center is open to individuals from all walks of life without any restrictions based on residence or zip code. This openness allows My Choice to cater to a vast range of needs, from help with early pregnancy to providing free clothing for infants up to eighteen months. It’s a safe haven for women to gain a better understanding of their pregnancies, learn about fetal development, and explore all possible options available to them.
A distinct aspect of My Choice is its foundation in faith. Unlike many centers, it does not rely on government funding. Instead, it is supported by local churches, individuals, and fundraising events. This foundation allows them to operate with a mission-centric approach, providing not only physical resources but also emotional and spiritual support. Pam emphasizes the importance of involving men in the process, advocating for a new program designed to encourage male mentorship and support for fathers-to-be.
The experience provided by My Choice goes beyond the immediate services; it seeks to make a long-term impact. One such service is the provision of ultrasounds. Pam shares moving stories of how witnessing the flicker of a heartbeat can deeply influence the decision-making process for prospective parents. The center allows expecting parents to revisit and witness the growth and development of their child, offering a tangible connection to the life they are bringing into the world.
Follow-up and continuity of care are pivotal at My Choice, ensuring that support extends after the initial visit. The center remains a point of contact as long as the parents require, even participating in personal life events like baby showers. This ongoing support solidifies the center’s commitment to be more than just a resource – to be a lifelong partner in nurturing families.
Discussing the broader landscape, Pam addresses the challenges within Colorado, a state known for its liberal abortion laws. As a sanctuary state, Colorado facilitates abortion access up to full term, which presents significant ethical and operational challenges for My Choice. The center remains committed to offering adoption services, although they navigate the complex perceptions and choices of their clients.
To wrap up the episode, Pam extends an invitation to the community, urging local churches, potential donors, and volunteers, particularly fathers, to engage with My Choice. With community efforts such as a yearly fundraising clay shoot, My Choice seeks to continue and expand its invaluable services, passion, and support for every individual that walks through its doors. Travis concludes by reinforcing the center’s critical role in the community, helping to shape a more informed and supportive environment for all families.
Join us for an enlightening conversation about My Choice Resource Center's mission to support families in Denver. Pam Baylor explains their non-government-funded organization, driven by faith and community aid, which provides critical resources like clothing and mentorship. Learn about the introduction of programs to engage men in the parenting process and the significant impact of ultrasounds on prospective parents. This episode highlights the importance of community involvement and the challenges faced in Colorado as a sanctuary state for abortions.
00:00:00 Introduction to My Choice Resource Center
Hi, this is Travis with KLTT Radio 670 AM here in Denver, and I have a special guest with us today. Pam Behler runs My Choice Resource Center in the Federal Heights area of Denver. Pam, how are you today?
SPEAKER 02 :
I'm doing great.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, we all know there's a whole lot of dis- and misinformation. We love that word these days. So tell us a little bit about My Choice and what it is, and probably more importantly, what it is not.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Thank you for having us today. So, My Choice Resource Center is located on 8380 Zuni Street on Suite 203, 80221. So, we're North Denver, but we are amazingly in the area of Broomfield, Westminster, Thornton, in that area. But we serve anyone. I mean, I have people coming in from everywhere. There's no zip code or anything. If you need help and we have the services available, then you can come in anytime. And those services would be, we do free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds, and help out with clothing zero to 18 months to free. The center is here for unplanned pregnancies. So if a woman does have an unplanned pregnancy or she's okay with her pregnancy, we'll see her too. But what we'll do is perform the pregnancy test, see what's going on in their lives, see if they're being trafficked, see if anything's going on. And we would do the test and educate her on fetal development and also on abortion procedures. The misconception is there is a heartbeat at 18 days. Abortions can be physically and mentally challenging to you. There is side effects. Of course. Many women do not realize that. Men or women do not realize it. They just think it's a quick fix and they'll never remember it. There are women out there that I have worked with that may be 80 years old and has never told anyone that they had had an abortion. I mean, they're afraid to even talk about it. And there is healing from these abortions, men and women healing. You know, if you've had one and you've got another pregnancy, it's okay. We're going to work through it with you. We're going to help you. And if you've had miscarriages, this happens a lot too. We've had more miscarriages recently than I've ever seen in years. But, you know, we're going to keep giving you ultrasounds until you get to that doctor so you can feel comfortable that the baby still has a heartbeat. It's called a baby check.
SPEAKER 01 :
That's pretty cool. And it's all free. There's no cost with that.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's absolutely right. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I know another one of the points of contention with those sometimes is, you know, tax dollars being spent on it, stuff like that. Are you guys funded by the government in any way?
SPEAKER 03 :
We are not. We are faith-based in our churches, individuals, corporation, fundraising events are the only way we get funded. And our clothing base is the exact same way. We are gently used clothing companies. And we went through 400 clients alone last year just handing out clothing, and we're only open 20 hours. So we are very blessed to be able to have people come in and keep giving us clothing, clothing. I just had a father come in. He's a grandfather, actually, come in, and he gives us diapers every year. So I was able to have... Yeah, I was able to tell them opportunity. You know, we're missing out on men. We're missing out on mentoring our men. And we need men in that help. We need godly men that have had children and been through it and scared to death, maybe not had a job, but they're making it. And, you know, we need them in here telling our fathers to be, you know, you can do that. I'm here to help you.
SPEAKER 01 :
More of a mentorship kind of counselor type thing. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome. That's awesome. You heard it, guys. Get out to my choice and make a difference. It's so cool that that's so driven by the church. What a model for Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's exactly right. That's awesome.
SPEAKER 01 :
And it's also great to hear that fathers are involved, too. I mean, on both sides, right? So what kind of services do you offer for fathers who do want to be in the life with that baby? That's something that I've seen a lot of chatter about lately. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it is. It's huge. It is a new program that we are creating right now, and we are needing men that want to volunteer, be in here. At the same time, we are giving the woman her pregnancy test. That father, that mentor would go back and say, hey, this is what your significant other or the mommy-to-be, they may not even be together. That's the biggest thing, but that's okay. The father still needs the information so he can have influence on the mother-to-be to help her make a good decision. So they would just go in, they would educate again on fetal development, what's going on in her body, what is happening in her body. He's invited back to have the ultrasound as well with her, with the woman's permission. And then also tell you about the side effects of abortion for male and female children.
SPEAKER 01 :
yes yeah that's that's so important and you know the breakdown of the family and father's not being present in lives and what you guys are doing is kind of gluing that back together it's pretty awesome you mentioned earlier the the ultrasounds which i've heard in the past is uh is super impactful so tell me about that when when an expecting mother gets an ultrasound there what's the the impact on the mother on the whole whole situation
SPEAKER 03 :
It was unreal. It's just unreal. Back, I've been doing this for so many years. We didn't have ultrasound, so we just had little fetal demometers. And it's like, okay, yeah, sure, that little dot has a heartbeat in it. You know, they'd never believe it. So, when they... I can... Our ultrasound techs, literally at five and a half to six weeks, can literally see the sac and see the flicker of the heartbeat. Beautiful. I mean, when you see that, it's just like, wow, it is real. I mean, it's just a miracle. They're... I mean, God knew what he was doing, but it's hard to believe and people do not realize that that heartbeat is there. We see it on a regular basis. And we have them come back in two weeks so they can see it again. They can see the fetus still growing, the baby's still growing, you know, and they can keep coming back until the first trimester until they get a doctor with the ultrasounds and checking in on them. You know, once they walk out of this office, there are people that are going to say, oh, just go aboard. You don't, you won't have any feelings. You won't be able to do this. Moms will say this. Dads will say this. Grandmas. Yeah, it really is. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
So, you, my choice doesn't, doesn't just stop, you know, after a baby is born or a decision's made. What sort of follow-up things can a, can a couple or a mother expect from my choice?
SPEAKER 03 :
We'll be there as long as they want us to be there. I have been doing delivery rooms. I have been to baby showers. As much as they want to be involved, we will stay with them as long as they want. We do have policy after they get a doctor. We really can't do an ultrasound unless maybe they just need a baby check or something like that because we don't want to interfere with that doctor. What we're saying is differently. We are not a medical facility. We're facility we are considered a limited medical so all we do is ultrasounds and pregnancy test and then our medical doctor reads all of our scans and checks them and she's on call for us all the time so something is we don't my ob gyn nurses who are ultrasound techs if they see something that isn't correct we're on that phone immediately calling her and there has been baby saved from that
SPEAKER 01 :
That's great. Wow. Is Colorado different than any other state where abortion and resource centers are concerned? Is it better, worse?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh my, what a handful. I moved here from Indiana, the most conservative state 10 years ago. And I worked for a center there too. Abortions at Planned Parenthood can only be done in the first trimester. Abortions in Colorado since 1973 have had abortions full term.
SPEAKER 01 :
That means two to nine months.
SPEAKER 03 :
Nine months. Wow. Nine months. Yeah. And there are new laws trying to get out there that even after the baby's born, they might be able to abort also as well. The laws are really... I mean... Colorado is a sanctuary state for abortions. It's well known. People know it. Our numbers are way up now since Roe versus Wade got reversed. I mean, Colorado and probably California are probably the two top people doing abortions right now. It's so sad. And I mean, Dr. Hearn, he does two to three a week, I hear. So full-term abortions. Yeah. We do offer adoption, but most of our ladies in our area are intellectually, I just don't think they have that capacity to even think about it. But we do have it and we do offer it. And we've just not had any, they're just, they'd say no. Matter of fact, one girl that just saved her, she's choosing life. She's at 27, 28 weeks now. Yeah. She straight out told me, she goes, no, I'd rather abort my baby than give it up for adoption.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, that's interesting. I wonder why.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just don't think she wanted to go through it and see someone else raise her baby. I get that a lot, in all honesty. Oh, no, if I'm going to have the baby, I'm not giving it up for adoption. There's no education piece to it. They just really do not understand.
SPEAKER 01 :
It kind of seems like an either-or kind of thing, like it's either birth or death, right? Right, exactly. That's sad.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. Our area education level is a little less than some of the areas. Longmont was that way too when I was there. Boulder's completely different. Ethnically, they're totally different. So I think the areas vary about the adoption or, you know, where they're going, what they're doing. I mean, we basically as Hispanic, most everyone, 90% of people come in here on Medicaid and They have nothing. Most of them are maybe one-bedroom apartments, barely getting by. We do get refugees in here as well. So we're in a unique situation to really help families and hopefully bring them to Christ. We pray with every client with permission. If they don't even go to church, they don't mind us praying with them.
SPEAKER 01 :
That's great. Yeah. What a blessing to do that too. Well, you are just making a world of difference here and you're swelling my heart up for sure. Anything else you want folks to know about my choice or the process or anything at all, Pam?
SPEAKER 03 :
They can call us for information. They can get me at Pam at MyChoiceColorado.org, or they can always call me at the 303-416-0255, or just stop by and take a tour of the facility. That really explains it all when you have a tour. Yeah, and then all churches are, you know, if you have a church out there that doesn't know about us, have them stop by to call me or whatever is needed. We do a clay shoot every year. It's a really fun event. It's always in September. So that's our huge fundraising event. And fathers, do you hear us out here? We need you now. So give us a call.
SPEAKER 01 :
That's great. Fathers, mothers, pastors, churches, everyone, there is a place for you at My Choice Colorado. And you can find more about My Choice Colorado at mychoicecolorado.org or just shoot Pam an email like she said at pam at mychoicecolorado.org. Pam, what was that phone number one more time in case folks didn't get it? 303-416-0255. There you go. Thanks so much for being with us at KLTT 670 AM. Pam, we really appreciate what you're doing over at MyChoice. Thank you so much.
