Resolutions proposed to limit abortion clinics in Bristol, Washington County
Bristol, Virginia, “the birthplace of country music,” is known for its thriving music culture, Appalachian mountain setting, and the state line that runs down its main street, separating it from Bristol, Tennessee.
Father Chris Hess, pastor of St. Anne, Bristol, since 2018, hopes the city remains famous for those things and not for the abortion clinic that moved from the Tennessee side of the state line, just a mile down the street from the parish, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
The decision gave abortion rights decisions to individual states. Abortion is now illegal in Tennessee but remains legal in Virginia.
“We’ve had so much international media attention; everyone is talking about Bristol,” said Father Hess, who has spoken to journalists from Sweden and New Zealand. “But we don’t want to be known for this.”
Instead, he said, he and others are working to make the city a “Safe Zone for Life.”
In response to the opening of the clinic, which drew an outcry from many Bristol residents, The Family Foundation of Virginia helped draft a proposed resolution that would limit the clinic from expanding or relocating; it also would prevent any future clinics that offer abortion services from opening in Bristol, an independent city. A similar resolution was proposed for surrounding Washington County soon afterward.
On Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, The Family Foundation organized a prolife rally outside Bristol’s city hall before that day’s public city council meeting. The crowd of about 200 was orderly and respectful, Father Hess said.
“Our emphasis is on ‘peaceful,’” he noted. “We are keeping our distance from people – on either side of the issue – who are not peaceful.”
Speaking at the meeting, he addressed the health of the city beyond religious beliefs.
“You don’t have to agree with anything I believe to see that what’s happening right now is not good for this city,” he said, explaining that the clinic will likely attract out-of-state protesters on both sides of the issue, as well as clients.
Legally complex, both resolutions passed and were sent to their planning committees. As of this writing, they are awaiting decisions that likely will come later in January.
In an area where Catholics are a minority, and sometimes unpopular, it is especially important to have a Catholic presence among other Christian denominations and show what the Church stands for, and to do it peacefully and prayerfully, said Father Hess.
“This is an opportunity for the Catholic Church to step up and let people know that this is our belief, this is our faith,” he said.
Because Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia have all passed bans on abortion, he worries that “beautiful Bristol” may become a multistate hub of the abortion industry.
“We are speaking out about it, even though some people are not happy about what we’re doing – even people on our own side,” he said.
‘Abortion affects everyone’
In 2020, after Dr. Jacquelyn Early had to step away from her job as a Bristol emergency room physician due to a leg injury that is still healing, she was looking for a new purpose. A mother of two, she now leads the pro-life ministry at St. Anne Parish.
A cradle Catholic, she has always been pro-life, she said. “And as a physician, naturally I do everything I can to save a life, anyone’s life. ‘Do no harm’ is what we promise as doctors.”
She stressed the fact that abortion affects everyone, whether one is for or against it, she said, noting that not all people may realize this.
“When I was tending a patient in the ER who had taken the abortion pill and she was in so much pain and emotional distress, bleeding and crying for me to ‘put it back,’ it really affected me,” she said. “And then I was handling this tissue that had been expelled. I am part of this.”
Such situations can be personally traumatic for some medical professionals, she explained. She described a female colleague who asked to be excused from that case, as she had recently miscarried a baby she very much wanted and was distressed trying to care for someone who had ended her own pregnancy voluntarily.
Early said, “Lifesaving is my job, and I take it seriously, just like Father Chris,” who was a paramedic and firefighter for 17 years before becoming a priest 10 years ago.
The pro-life ministry led by Early includes praying the rosary outside the clinic and on parish property, often with Father Hess, and a parish-wide “spiritual adoption” program in which parishioners pray for the unborn at risk for abortion and learn about prenatal development.
In December, the ministry also led a writing campaign that sent notes of love and encouragement to those seeking help at Pathways Pregnancy Center, a faith-based, interdenominational entity near the clinic but located across the state line that offers support to women and girls in crisis pregnancies.
“Like Mary, we must say ‘yes’ to life,” Early said.
Although some Catholics may remain silent on the issue because they, too, have been affected by abortion in their lives – having had one or knowing of a loved one who did – Early said that women who regret their own abortions offer powerful voices to the discussion.
“Those who have learned how to talk about it are very important,” Father Hess added.
‘Hope and help’
The path to reducing abortions must offer a way forward, said Joe Kerns, executive director of Pathways Pregnancy Center.
As head of a center that offers alternatives to abortion, Kerns supports the proposed resolutions.
Pathways seeks to advise clients about all their options when facing an unplanned pregnancy, including adoption, parenting and abortion. All services are free.
If clients are considering parenting, the center helps address such things as family support, employment and education opportunities, safe and secure housing, and financial stability. It also offers parenting classes.
Pathways serves women throughout their pregnancies and after birth for up to four years. The center provides baby clothes, diapers, wipes, cribs, toys, car seats and blankets. Pregnancy services include counseling, referrals for medical care, pregnancy testing and ultrasounds – with an ultrasound machine that was donated by St. Anne Knights of Columbus council.
The pro-life center does provide information about the different types of abortion and their risks, and offers post-abortion support, but it does not provide abortion services.
Kerns has a personal reason for recommending adoption in some cases.
“I was adopted myself at birth,” he said, “and I am so grateful that my birth mother chose life for me. I tell our clients that.”
Kerns said clients often come to Pathways feeling desperate, confused, afraid and hopeless.
“But we are here to offer hope and help,” he said. “There is help no matter what their situation is.”
Part of the strength of Pathways’ work is the bond with the Catholic community, said Kerns, who is Protestant.
“The Catholic respect for life has brought a whole new vigor to this issue,” he said.
Regardless of the outcome of the proposed resolutions, the compassionate movement offering “hope and help” to those in crisis pregnancies has gained momentum in Bristol and beyond, Father Hess said.
“This is all about respect for life: the life being carried in the womb and the life of the mother who finds herself in a very difficult position,” he said. “We want her to know she is loved, and she has options, and she has people who care for her.”