Smoky Mountain Pregnancy Care Center (SMPCC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Christian organization that offers totally free and confidential care and support to women and men facing unexpected pregnancies. We operate from charitable, tax-deductible donations and grants by individuals, churches, businesses and foundations.
We treat our patients with kindness and compassion and without judgement or condemnation.
Mission
"Smoky Mountain Pregnancy Care Center is a non-profit Christian Organization dedicated to protecting the right to life. We educate, encourage and empower women and men with unexpected pregnancies to choose life."
Vision
We will empower individuals to make life affirming choices by providing the truth in love, in a non-judgmental atmosphere.
We believe:
* Life, which begins at conception, is sacred. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13,14
* God has a purpose for every child that is conceived. You are worthy, Oh Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased. Revelation 4:11
We will measure our efforts:
* Through monthly and annual reports to the Board of Directors
* Through the use of client surveys
Our clients receive medical grade pregnancy testing, limited OB ultrasounds, medical consultations, peer counseling, parenting & life skills lessons, items from our rewards closet, post-abortion support & healing, community referrals, optional new or expecting parent mentors and more. We also offer accurate, up-to-date information about pregnancy, fetal development, lifestyle issues, adoption options and other pregnancy-related concerns.
*We do not offer, recommend, or refer patients for abortions, but we are committed to providing accurate information about the different procedures and corresponding risks.
Services
History
What began as a local pastor's wife's response to the despair and hopelessness of unplanned teen pregnancies has now become a place of hope and encouragement, the Smoky Mountain Pregnancy Care Center.
Through both tragedy and overheard conversations, in 1999, the damaging and deadly effects of casual sex unexpected pregnancy shocked our community. One local pastor's wife responded to this situation and by 2001 opened SMPCC as a resource and support center in Franklin, NC (about 40 minutes from the local university), offering parenting and life skills lessons, access to a rewards closet, and trained peer counseling. By 2004, our clinic went medical incorporating pregnancy testing, limited ultrasound scans, medical consultations and community referrals. Becoming a medical clinic expanded our impact and brought many more abortion vulnerable women and men to our center.
Because most abortions happen among women ages 18-24, SMPCC opened its Cullowhee clinic in 2004 also beginning as a resource center (offering materials and counseling). Sadly, in 2012, due to financial challenges the Cullowhee clinic had to close for ten months. Thanks to one of our partner churches, Community Bible Church, we were able to reopen in a larger space by the end of that year. This clinic operated out of a double-wide trailer, until we were able to acquire property and open our new Cullowhee clinic in summer of 2018, located within a five-minute walk from one of the entrances to campus.
In 2014, thanks to the generous support of the Knights of Columbus and our community, we upgraded our ultrasound machines to new, high-grade machines, in 2018 as the result of a state grant we again were able to upgrade our Cullowhee clinic machine, keeping us up to date with the latest technology. This addition has also transformed our impact because according to national statistics, 92% of the time women see their babies on an ultrasound machine, they choose life for them. Most recently, this year we have begun a post-abortion arm, or branch, of our ministry as well as a men’s mentoring program for new and expecting fathers. Both of these ministries are standard among pregnancy care centers nationwide and will empower us to broaden our reach to other relevant, often over looked populations affected by abortion.
We now look forward to partnering with you as we continue saving babies and serving vulnerable women and men in our community.
CORE BELIEFS
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Smoky Mountain Pregnancy Care Center is a Christian outreach ministry. As a Christian outreach ministry SMPCC, embodied in its volunteers, encourages presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord - both in word, whenever appropriate, and always in deed - to women and men facing pregnancies. Commensurate with this purpose, those who labor as board members, paid staff, and volunteers are expected to know and serve Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
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SMPCC is committed to providing its clients with accurate information about both fetal development and abortion.
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SMPCC is committed to educate, encourage, and empower abortion vulnerable men and women to choose life and to carry their babies to term by providing emotional support, practical assistance, and referrals.
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SMPCC is committed to integrity in dealing with clients, earning their trust and providing promised information and services. SMPCC denounces any form of deception in its corporate advertising and during individual conversations with clients.
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SMPCC does not discriminate in providing services because of race, creed, gender, national origin, age, or marital status of its clients.
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SMPCC does not recommend, provide, or refer for abortion or abortifacients.
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SMPCC offers all services free of charge.
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SMPCC does not recommend, provide, or refer for contraceptives or birth control methods.
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SMPCC recognizes the validity of adoption as one alternative to abortion, but is not biased toward adoptions when compared to other life-saving alternatives. SMPCC is independent of adoption agencies, relating to them in the same manner as to other helpful referral sources. SMPCC receives no payment of any kind from these agencies, does not enter into contractual relationships with them, and does not share combined office spaces. Adoption agencies are not established under the auspices of the center. SMPCC neither initiates nor facilitates indpendent adoptions, though they may refer for independent adoptions in states where it is legal.
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SMPCC is committed to personally upholding the Biblical standard of abstinence before marriage and remain faithful during marriage and that marriage is between a natural born male and natural born female.
OUR TEAM
Staff
Jenny Golding
Executive Director
Dr. Donald Dewhurst, MD
Medical Director
Pam Raby, RN
Nurse Manager
Michelle Finnie
Director of Client Services & Volunteers
Pam Bowen
Bookkeeper
Crystal Akers, RN
Clinic Nurse
Jessica Ball, RN
Nurse Sonographer
Elaine Parfitt, RN
Nurse Sonographer
Rebecca Langston
Community Outreach Director
Annette Sutton
Nurse Sonographer
Board of Directors
Jenny Golding
Executive Director
Ron Urrutia
Chairman of the Board
Greg Boyer
Vice Chair
Marie Cook
Treasurer
Valerie Niskanen
Interim Secretary
Scott Massie
Director
Michael Lee
Director
Karen Whitley
Director
Volunteers
We have over 41 active volunteers across our two clinics that have together faithfully and generously served 4,100 hours in 2017.