Across State Lines: Alabama and Alaska Baptists partner to protect preborn lives

As you listen to those at the Community Pregnancy Center in Anchorage, Alaska, describe their work, you would think missionaries were talking, says Dr. Rick Lance, executive director for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Workers and volunteers at the center are at the forefront of a spiritual battle for lives and souls. Time and time again, they have women who come in with a plan to abort and leave with the decision to choose life for their babies. 

This same pregnancy center received a life-saving ultrasound machine in September of this year from Alabama Baptists, in conjunction with the Alaska Baptist Resource Network and the ERLC’s Psalm 139 Project as part of a special emphasis called “Across State Lines.”

A partnership for life across state lines

For over five years, Alabama Baptists have had a partnership with Alaska Baptists that provides several resources, including disaster relief, staffing needs, and other special requests. “Alabama Baptists are working alongside Alaskan Baptists with a question in mind . . . we’re not here to do it for you; we’re not here to make you into Alabama. We want to know, how can we help you reach your people? That’s been our partnership motif,” explained Dr. Lance.

Lance describes the partnership work of Alaska and Alabama Baptists like that of a military special ops team. They are going to hard-to-reach parts of Alaska, where they have to fly or take a boat because there are no roads to get them to their destination. In addition, they’re going to places where many Alaskans haven’t even been themselves. 

Placing an ultrasound machine at the Community Pregnancy Center was the latest byproduct of this relationship, enabling Alaska Baptists to better advocate for the preborn and their mothers in their state. “We are firm believers that the ultrasound image changes the conversation with the women and men we serve, especially those who are at risk for choosing abortion,” said Greg Monrad, executive director of Community Pregnancy Center.

This partnership across state lines is strategically valuable, especially considering the lack of restrictions on abortion in many states. In September 2024, Alaska voters rejected a measure that would have required abortions to be performed only by licensed physicians, which would allow further access to abortion procedures. As a result, Alaska remains one of the states with very few limits on who can provide abortions.

Randy Covington, outgoing executive director of the Alaska convention, calls cooperation, such as the partnership between Alabama and Alaska, “one of the greatest Baptist distinctives.” Covington explains further, 

Cooperation happens when autonomous SBC organizations partner together to accomplish things we cannot do alone. Our partnership with Alabama Baptists and with the ERLC through the Psalm 139 Project has opened doors to minister through the Community Pregnancy Center in Anchorage. The placement of a new sonogram machine has significantly expanded ministry to women facing unanticipated pregnancies and provided spiritual counseling through our partnership efforts.

The Psalm 139 Project saves lives

This latest ultrasound placement marks nearly 100 donations made through the Psalm 139 Project, which began in 2001. The nonprofit provides ultrasound equipment and necessary training to pregnancy resource centers. It does not receive Cooperative Program dollars but is fully funded through donations, 100% of which go toward ultrasound placements and subsequent training. Through the “Across State Lines” emphasis, Southern Baptist individuals, churches, state conventions, and other entities in pro-life states can join us in placing ultrasound machines in pro-choice states that lack the same level of support for preborn children and vulnerable mothers as conservative areas of the country.

ERLC’s Chief Financial Officer Bobby Reed further explained the larger purpose of why donating ultrasound equipment matters: “An ultrasound machine is more than technology; it’s a tool that provides hope and dignity to the most vulnerable among us.”