Local health clinic provides mobile unit with ultrasound machine to serve women faced with difficult life situations

In the latest Walton Living Magazine, Christy Smith wrote a story on the Women’s Health and Wellness Clinic’s new mobile clinic with an ultrasound machine and examination table. This clinic offers an alternative to women and young girls faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

In the light of the recent leaking of the draft opinion from the Supreme Court and the resultant fall out should decisions on abortion be returned to the states, it seemed timely to share this information now. It gives some insight on options that are available in the local community. The opening paragraphs follow.

Excerpt by Christy Smith for Walton Living Magazine

Medical care is a complex process to navigate. On top of that, some women live in poverty, have transportation challenges or lack insurance. Women’s Health and Wellness Clinic of Walton recently acquired a 31-foot mobile unit with an ultrasound machine and examination table in which personnel open free clinics each week in Walton County’s outlying towns. Abortion/parenting/adoption education and services are not income-based and are free to all or with a minimal lab fee.
“Walton County is very rural and it’s hard for women to even get to us,” said Carol Fairman, executive director.
The $180,800 price of the mobile unit with state-of-the-art equipment was raised through donations, Fairman said. A new ultrasound machine was acquired through a grant and much of WHWC’s work is supported by donations.

“It is such a privilege to meet a woman in this situation,” Fairman said. “We are such a lonely culture. Many women have nowhere else to turn.”
On a cold January evening, a confused and frightened teenage girl slipped into WHWC a few minutes before closing. Staff was grateful to see her. The girl brought with her a 14-week pregnancy. When the teenager’s father found out his daughter was unmarried and pregnant, he kicked her out of the house, promising to let her come home following an abortion. The girl could go to her mother, but mom lived in another nation, a place foreign to the young mother-to-be. The teenager wanted to stay in United States because she had hardly known anything else.
The panic-stricken and homeless teenager saw abortion as a quick solution and a way to go home. A free ultrasound let her see her baby – it was sucking its thumb. The young mother stayed with clinic staff to learn about other options of which she hadn’t thought.
“We give her a safe and private place to talk with no judgement,” Fairman said. “All the young mother knows is she is hurt, she wants it out, and we let her take a breath and see what her options are. We listen and give information. God loves her and has plan for her baby.”
WHWC does not refer women for abortion but will stand by her with counseling if she chooses abortion. Free abortion recovery support is available for parents coping with post-abortion trauma.

To read the full story online in the spring-summer issue of Walton Living Magazine and to find out contact information and services offered by the Women’s Health and Wellness Clinic and Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton County, click or tap on the image below. Or you could pick up a copy of the magazine and one of the Walton County city halls or libraries as well with the advertisers in the magazine or many businesses around town.