The Vitae Caring Foundation, a non-profit pro-life organization, officially launched a campaign yesterday targeted at raising awareness for pregnancy medical clinics in the greater Kansas City area.

The first part of the pro-life campaign will utilize 54 billboards to draw attention to the Wyandotte Pregnancy Center, located in Kansas City, and the Women’s Clinic of Kansas City, located in Independence, Mo.

The second part of the campaign will focus on the two Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers, located in Shawnee and Overland Park. The campaign for all four pregnancy clinics will eventually include at least 70 posted billboards.

“The campaign is targeted at reaching abortion-minded women ages 18 to 24,” Amy Demeisi, research assistant with the Vitae Caring Foundation, told Kansas Liberty. Demeisi helped coordinate the campaign.

Each of these pregnancy clinics are pro-life oriented and have the capability to provide free pregnancy tests, ultra sounds and various manners of support before and after a baby is born.

The billboards will be strategically placed in concentrated areas where pregnant women are underserved, in hopes of demonstrating to these women that there are opportunities to seek help in nearby pregnancy clinics.

The Vitae Caring Foundation, based out of Jefferson City, is funded by private donors and churches. The foundation’s mission is to “encourage a culture of life through mass communications.”

The foundation is covering the cost of the campaign, and the pregnancy clinics will then absorb the cost associated with providing the women with services.

This billboard-centered campaign is considered to be a pilot project in the Kansas City market, as the Vitae Caring Foundation has previously predominantly worked through radio and television advertising in the Kansas City area.

“We are always looking for new ways to reach our target audience,” Demeisi said. “Hopefully this brings a lot of foot traffic into these centers.”

The Vitae Caring Foundation has successfully utilized billboards in other markets, including the Atlanta area, Demeisi said.

Vitae does not have plans to extend its marketing campaign into other areas of Kansas. The foundation’s main objective is to gain a presence in the top 25 media markets in the United States.

Barb Gosa, executive director of the Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers, said she was confident the campaign would increase the volume of women in her clinics, and would therefore likely have an effect on the amount of abortions performed in the state.

Gosa pointed out that surveys have indicated that many women who had abortions said they would not have gone through with the procedure if they had known resources were available that could have assisted them in carrying the baby to full term.

“Hopefully this will raise awareness that there is help available,” Gosa told Kansas Liberty.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment statistics, there were 10,642 abortions performed in 2008, with 192 abortions performed on viable unborn children older than 22 weeks of age.

Previously on Kansas Liberty

2008 KDHE stats show abortions performed on viable, unborn children increased
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/12oct/2008-kdhe-stats/

Resources

Vitae Caring Foundation
http://www.vitaecaringfoundation.org/

Wyandotte Pregnancy Clinic
http://www.wyandottepregnancyclinic.org/

Women’s Clinic of Kansas City
http://www.thewomensclinic.net/

Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers
http://www.adviceandaid.com/

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