Crisis pregnancy home now open

by Katherine Sokolowski

A Catholic based residence is giving women who are pregnant and have nowhere to go a place to live during and after their pregnancy.

The new Our Lady of Guadalupe Home of Windsor, a home for women with unintended pregnancies, is now open for business. The home located at 591 Alexandrine St. is run by Sister Linda Dubé and Elaine Paul who works as the home’s house mother as well as a professional social worker.

The home’s plan is to provide women who are going through an unintended pregnancy, otherwise known as a crisis pregnancy. It is a place of support as well as a place to teach women life skills that will help them live on their own. It will also give them plenty of options that don’t involve abortion.

“There are 25 surgical abortions performed every single week in Windsor. Every week we’re killing a classroom full of children, every week, that’s a thousand a year,” said Dubé

The home aims to give women an environment in which they receive the support and love they may not be receiving in their home or personal life. They also say they want to eliminate the shame and social stigma that some young women may experience during pregnancy.

“What’s happening to teenage girls is parents are saying ‘you’re not ready to be a mother, you’re going to interrupt your schooling, you had these dreams, you have to get rid of it’ and even if a young girl doesn’t want to, she’s so panicked and the people she was counting on to support her are not, you know, they’ll go through with it,” Dubé said.

Paul, who went through a crisis pregnancy herself, said she didn’t receive any sort of support until her son was three months old. Instead she received condolences about her situation instead of congratulations on the life she helped bring into the world.

“Nobody said that until I had a three month old son, someone said ‘oh you’ve got a son,’ but until that it was, you know, ‘oh my god,’ ‘I’m so sorry,’ and so the celebration of the life within me didn’t happen and I don’t want that to happen to anyone else,” Paul said.

Miśela Cvetkovski, a pro-choice activist, said she disagrees with the goals of the people who run the house.

“That type of a system may be effective to some women, but not for others. The reason why an abortion might be best for a women in such a situation is regarding whether or not they obtain a job during pregnancy. It’s near impossible to find employment in Windsor. The stress of trying to find a job, despite the support from unknown people, could cause physical stress to the mother’s body,” said Cvetkovski. “If a mother knows she is psychologically ready or not for a child she needs to make her own choice. The home may help her find a temporary jobs and to be honest, it doesn’t take much to teach one ‘life skills’.”

The home is non-profit and is accepting donations. They recently have received donations such as quilts, furniture, cribs and other baby essentials but what they really need at this point is money to help pay for staff and utilities.

The home has available spots for women and can move them in with at least one week’s notice. Anyone can contact the home online at their website, www.ologhome.com or by calling the home at 519-962-4861.