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Real Alternatives has received over 15,000 calls for
help at 1-888-LIFE-AID
November 7, 2008, Harrisburg, PA, - Real Alternatives, Inc., statewide program
administrator for Pennsylvania's Alternative to Abortion Services
Program, has served over 15,000 clients seeking pregnancy and parenting
support on its toll-free hotline 1-888-LIFE-AID.
"Real Alternatives offers hope to thousands of women facing
unplanned
pregnancies," said Susan Lawruk, one of Real Alternatives hotline
counselors. "Through Real Alternatives -funded service providers,
the women that I speak with are given the comprehensive support
they need - they understand that they are not alone."
Real
Alternatives toll-free referral program is unique. Once a woman,
from anywhere in the Commonwealth calls toll-free, she receives
initial crisis intervention counseling. She is then asked for her
zip code and her call is patched to another counselor located at her
closest pregnancy support center, social service agency, adoption
agency or maternity home. The woman talks with a counselor in her
community who can be with her through the crisis pregnancy and 12
months afterward. With 119 Real Alternatives-funded centers
throughout the Commonwealth, there is a center within 60 minutes of
most women in Pennsylvania.
In order to make
the 1-888-LIFE-AID toll-free hotline effective, women throughout the
Commonwealth are informed of the support from this program through
television, radio, newspaper, telephone book, and bus
advertisements. Since 1997, over $4 million in advertising has been
spent throughout the Commonwealth to reach out to women in need.
The PA
Alternatives to Abortion Services Program has served over 145,000
women at Pennsylvania life-affirming centers since its inception in
1995 and is currently funded at $5.65 million per year by the
Commonwealth's Department of Public Welfare
and Department of Health.
Women experiencing unplanned pregnancies can find their closest
center by calling toll-free at 1-888-LIFE-AID or by visiting
www.realalternatives.org.
In 2006,
Texas Health and Human Services signed a $2.5 million-a-year
agreement with Texas Pregnancy Care Network to offer statewide
government-funded alternatives to abortion using the Real
Alternatives model. Since its conception, $333,000 in advertising
has been spent throughout Texas to reach out to women facing crisis
pregnancies. In addition, the LIFE-AID hotline has received 799
calls from Texas.
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