Reprinted from The Catholic Commentator, May 20, 2009

BY DEBBIE SHELLEY, Assistant Editor

Many people bond with mothers with whom they have blood ties, while others bond with a mother figure who has encouraged and supported them in their struggles.

Anita Horton, housemother for Sanctuary for Life, is a mother figure for many of the women who come to the home with a crisis pregnancy. The nurturing environment she provides at the home influences the women to appreciate the connection they have with their unborn child and keep him or her as they work toward a better life.

Sanctuary for Life, an outreach program of the Diocese of Baton Rouge’s Counseling, Maternity and Adoption Program, served 13 women last year. While at Sanctuary for Life, the women receive healthcare, parenting preparation, help in studying for a G.E.D. if needed, job training and counseling, said Janice Allen, director of the Counseling, Maternity and Adoption Program. Ninety percent of the women who stayed at Sanctuary for Life secured employment prior to their leaving the home, according to Allen.

Horton proudly talked about the transformed lives of some of the women who came to the home with a crisis pregnancy and left better prepared to enter the world of single parenthood and lift themselves and their children out of poverty.

One young woman, Stephanie, was studying to be a lawyer at Southern University when she became pregnant. Because she did not have anyone in the area who could help her during her pregnancy, she contacted Catholic Charities, who referred her to Sanctuary for Life.

Stephanie wondered how she would take care of a child, according to Horton. When her friends told her they wanted to give her a baby shower, she was upset because she didn’t know what items she should list on the baby registry of a couple of local stores. When Horton told her she would help her register, the woman asked with surprise, “You would do that for me?”

Stephanie is doing fine in caring for her baby boy, whom she delivered about a month ago, and she will finish her  law degree at Southern University in a year-and-a half. “She’s going to be an attorney,” said a beaming Horton, who plans to attend the woman’s graduation.

Another woman, Christy, who was two months pregnant when she came to Sanctuary for Life, was homeless and addicted to drugs. Her father was abusive and her mother was also addicted to drugs so the young woman had no exposure to a “normal life.” Horton worked with her through many issues during her stay, including the death of her mother by a drug overdose.

Horton took Christy for her first meal in a sit-down restaurant and, sensing her apprehension, she encouraged her to relax and enjoy the meal. When Horton took the woman to see her first movie, “Dream Girls,” she had “stars in her eyes” and cried at the end. Horton said Christy’s exposure to a better life is what changed the woman’s attitude about her pregnancy.

“At first she was not going to keep the baby,” Horton said. “She went from thinking like a little girl to ‘I’m an adult and I have to clean m self up if my baby is going to have a better life.’”

The woman is living in an apartment, is off public assistance and is a very good parent to her baby boy, who is about a year old. Horton also talked about a woman from Nigeria, Dorcas, who came to the United States through a visa lottery drawing program and hoped to establish herself and bring her family over for a better life. Dorcas, who was pregnant when she came to Louisiana about two years ago, was staying with friends when she was sexually assaulted. Needing somewhere to go to receive help, she came to Catholic Charities, who referred her to Sanctuary for Life.

While staying at the home she developed the skills she needed to obtain a good job. She delivered her baby boy about a year ago, has a house and car and hopes to bring her husband to the United States to live and her parents to visit soon.

As Horton helps the women through their struggles, she encourages them to trust God. She helps them open doors to opportunities and in their faith. She also  tresses that they must do their part. “You’ve got to work, you’ve got to do your part as well,” Horton said.