AA Women’s Services celebrates opening of new offices

AA Women’s Services Director Jenny Sanders stands amid clothes and other items the center donates to women to help them with unplanned pregnancies. The center, opened in 1988, recently moved to new offices on US 25S across from Northside Supply.

After 23 years of helping women in the tri-county area make decisions about what to do when they have an unplanned pregnancy, AA Women’s Services now has a new facility in which to provide those services.

AA Women’s Services held an open house earlier this month to celebrate the grand opening of its new facility on US 25S across from Northside Supply Company. The spacious new offices provide numerous rooms to allow the non-profit, privately funded center more room to operate.

"We have gotten so much bigger over the years and minister to so many more girls now," said Jenny Sanders, Director of AA Women’s Services. "The Lord just opened the door up for us to get this building and it has worked out really good. We have more room to help more girls."

AA Women’s Services was established in 1998 as a way to provide women with options and advice on how they can best handle an unplanned pregnancy.

"We give them the facts. They have three options: they can abort, they can become parents or they can choose adoption," Sanders said. "We don’t push any one of the three, but we give them all the information they need about each option so they can make a good, healthy choice."

Sanders said the center mostly helps teens and does more than just give advice. If a mother decides to go ahead and have a baby from an unplanned pregnancy, the center will help to provide diapers and wipes and other various items for two years. If mothers complete a nine-hour "earn and learn" program, then they will be provided with a pack and play set that includes a bassinet.

AA Women’s Center is funded by a conglomeration of area churches and is managed by a nine-member board of directors. It is a Christian organization that serves between 150 to 200 women each year.

"Anyone is accepted if they want help. There are no income requirements," Sanders said.

The center also sponsors abstinence classes, taught by a nurse, which tries to teach teens the importance of wise sexual decisions and problems that can be associated with sexually transmitted diseases.

"I do know there is a lot of sexual activity with young people nowadays and there is a need to learn and make better choices with their lives," Sanders said.

She noted that Knox County has the seventh highest rate of teen pregnancy in the state of Kentucky. The center mainly accepts clients from Knox and Whitley County, but does also get some from Laurel County who seek help.

A former teen mother, who utilized the center and made the decision to keep her child, said AA Women’s Center has a special place in her heart.

"I was 15 and my dad told me I was going to have an abortion … that it was the only option," the woman, who wished to remain unidentified, said. "When he came here, he changed his mind. He came home and said I think we have other options. My daughter is 20 years old now and I don’t think he’d have it any other way. He wouldn’t change it for anything in the world."

The center is open noon to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or by appointment.

Anyone wanting more information is encouraged to call the center at 606-523-1113.