When Emily Berry talks about the women who walk through the doors of New Path Pregnancy Resource Centers, she doesn’t talk about them as statistics, problems to be solved or decisions to be judged. She talks about them as people.

Women who are scared, overwhelmed or may not know what to do next. And, most importantly, women who deserve to know they are loved.

“I want to point each client’s heart in the right direction,” Berry said.

Berry is the center director of the Bellefontaine office, 709 N. Main St. She has served New Path since 2009, first as a client advocate and event coordinator and now in her current role.

Her compassion for the women and families who come through the center is deeply personal.

Berry knows what it feels like to be pregnant and facing a decision that seems impossibly big. When she was 16, she discovered she was pregnant with twins. She went to a clinic for an ultrasound and learned she was carrying two babies. At the time, Berry believed abortion was her only option.

“I knew I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “But I thought I had no other choice.”

She couldn’t stop crying. Eventually, the clinic sent her home, telling her she wasn’t in the right place to make the decision. Berry knows that is not everyone’s experience. But for her, that moment changed everything; her twins lived and are thriving today. And years later, Berry finds herself wishing she had access to the kind of resources New Path offers young women today.

That experience has shaped the way she serves.

“We will honor every woman who walks through those doors,” Berry said. “We will walk with them and we won’t judge them.”

New Path Pregnancy Resource Centers have been serving women and families since 1992. The organization was formed in 2016 when the Pregnancy Care Center of Union County merged with the Hi-Point Women’s Center in Bellefontaine.

The organization purchased its current building that year and moved into the facility along north Main Street in June 2017. Today, 12 faithful volunteers help keep the ministry moving each week.

New Path is about much more than helping a woman through an unexpected pregnancy. The center offers education, healthy pregnancy support, breastfeeding care, toddler care, Bible studies and support for women dealing with the effects of past abortions.

Through its Earn While You Learn program, mothers and fathers meet individually with mentors, complete lessons and earn resources they can use in the Parent and Baby Boutique. There are diapers and baby supplies. Maternity items. Practical help. But there is also something that can be harder to find when life feels chaotic: someone willing to sit down and listen.

New Path also walks alongside women and families long after the initial crisis has passed. Berry recalled one young woman she supported for seven years. During that time, the two prayed together; not just about immediate needs, but about the woman’s future, including her hope of finding a godly husband.

Today, that young woman’s life is far less chaotic, but the relationship continues. That, Berry said, is what ministry looks like.

“It is a privilege and honor to build relationships with women and men who need our services,” she said. “To share life with them, even just for a season.”

The center has also built strong relationships with children’s services, doctors and the court system, creating a network of support for families who may need help from several directions.

For volunteer Sheila Burns, who serves at New Path on Tuesdays, those relationships, and watching God provide, are some of the most meaningful parts of the work.

She remembers a young woman who needed a crib. New Path didn’t have one available. But that same day, someone donated a crib and that need was met.

“It’s so awesome to go back and see God’s provision over and over again,” Burns said.

Through her time at New Path, Burns said she has learned that God is “a constantly moving, marvelous God.”

That faith is at the center of what New Path does. The organization is non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political, and does not perform or refer for abortion or abortifacients. Instead, it provides factual information, practical support and life-affirming alternatives at no charge.

For Berry, though, the mission is ultimately about much more than a position on a difficult issue.

“When God creates, we are all image bearers, including children and unborn children,” she said. “All children are a blessing of the womb.”

And that belief extends to the women themselves. New Path wants women and men to know they do not have to walk through an unexpected pregnancy alone. They can come with questions. They can come frightened. They can come unsure.

They can even come because they need someone to talk to. New Path will listen and offer resources. They will pray, teach and encourage.

And, most importantly, they will keep showing up. Because for Emily Berry, being pro-life means more than hoping a woman chooses life. It means being willing to walk beside her afterward, for as long as she needs someone beside her.