This time of year the pro-life community comes together and makes its pitch for life. One of the pro-life community’s greatest assets in promoting life is the work done by facilities that provide women’s health care from a pro-life perspective.
One such facility is called Guiding Star Siouxland. Located in conservative northwest Iowa, Orange City, the initial reaction may be to question the need for such a center. But according to executive director Kaleigh Van Middendorp, abortion happens in this corner of the state too.
“A lot of people think abortion doesn’t happen here or our students don’t struggle with that,” said Van Middendorp, who has worked with Guiding Star Siouxland in some capacity since it was created in 2016. “Well, they do and it is happening, it’s just that they’re able to travel an hour out of state or an hour to Sioux City or even order the medications online.”
Overcoming that idea and letting people know about the services provided at Guiding Star Siouxland are two of the organization’s biggest challenges.
In 2024, Guiding Star Siouxland served 47 pregnant women, including four who were “abortion-vulnerable” women who ended up choosing life. The center provides care beyond pregnancy and had about 170 visitors last year. It serves females 9-13 years old and all the way through menopause.
In addition to pregnancy care, the center provides services for fertility, family planning, childbirth, breastfeeding, post-partum care and motherhood. It is all pro-life-based.
“We don’t refer or provide contraception, artificial means of conception, sterilization or abortion,” Van Middendorp said. “We provide education, but we will not refer or provide for those services.”
Guiding Star Siouxland was built as an affiliate of the national Guiding Star Project, which was a group of pro-life pregnancy resource centers, or crisis pregnancy centers. It has grown out of a desire to recognize there were gaps in that model, however.
“We weren’t serving women well after they had a baby,” Van Middendorp said. “We also were not doing enough on the intervention side of things.”
Now the facility serves the top 13 counties of northwest Iowa. It also provides care to people from Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Last year it provided virtual care to people from Illinois, Kansas and California.
While the abortion industry will often criticize “crisis pregnancy centers” for past mistakes, Van Middendorp said Guiding Star Siouxland is a full medical clinic. She acknowledged that in the past so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” made mistakes, but those clinics should be easy to spot today.
“Our center is always open and honest with our marketing,” she said. “Our website says we don’t refer or provide abortions. We’re very open and honest with our clients and we’re very careful to make sure we’re following legal and medical guidelines to provide those services. To a lot of people, I just say come in. Come in and experience what it’s like.”
While the center offers much more than pregnancy care and provides daily challenges, it’s hard to envision anything more rewarding than walking a woman through an unplanned pregnancy and being there as she chooses life.
“Abortion-vulnerable” clients present somewhat on a scale. Sometimes a mom enters with an unplanned pregnancy but knows she will have the baby, she doesn’t know if she’ll parent the baby or have it adopted. On the flip side, a mom may enter and say she is getting an abortion no matter what is said, she’s just seeking information. Every situation is different and the staff is fully trained in options counseling.
“I can honestly say I’ve never counseled a woman who has said (she) wants to have an abortion and not understood her reasons for wanting to terminate a pregnancy,” Van Middendorp said. “I’ve always understood it. I’m never looking at a woman and saying, ‘How could you!’ There are so many insurmountable things even for people who are happily married and have stable jobs. There are a lot of facets for women choosing life. The LOVE approach allows us to dig deep into what is happening.”
According to Van Middendorp, 97 percent of the women who went to Planned Parenthood in the last five years for an abortion cite financial reasons. When women have financial concerns about raising a child, Guiding Star Siouxland works to find resources to help ease the burden.
Van Middendorp referenced a video the organization put together called “Abby’s Story.” You can view it below:
One of the most amazing moments working through an unplanned pregnancy is when a mom sees an ultrasound for the first time. A mom’s eyes are opened at that point to the fact it is a life growing inside of them, Van Middendorp said.
“It’s such a special time,” she added. “Sometimes you can see arm nubs, leg nugs, the heartbeat — it’s just that recognition of this is a life. We’re giving the reality that it’s a baby. It’s alive. It’s growing. It’s moving.”
Then the mom is asked if she’d like to come back next week and see if they can see more about the baby. It builds a relationship and champions the truth.
“It’s just beautiful every time,” Van Middendorp said. “Seeing those eyes opened. The terminology changes from, ‘Oh, well is it a pregnancy? Is it growing? Where is it in my uterus?’ To all of a sudden, it is ‘the baby’ and all of a sudden it’s ‘my baby.’ You just go, ‘Oh, beautiful.'”
Unlike Planned Parenthood, where women go for abortions, Guiding Star Siouxland prides itself on being the antithesis — a birth center where women go to have babies. And more.
“A lot of our doctors, even though we’re in northwest Iowa, are not pro-life,” Van Middendorp said. “So we’re not referring them to go have a baby with this doctor who is going to turn around and offer you birth control after your baby is born or sterilization options.”
Instead, the center tries to keep a mother working with the same person — a nurse, a midwife, a doula — so they don’t have to share their story with multiple people but can trust one person with it and walk through the entire process with that provider.
“That is the best thing about working at Guiding Star is building those relationships with moms,” Van Middendorp said.
Abby’s son is now five years old. Van Middendorp said she sees him during the Tulip Festival with his adoptive parents and his birth parent and both families who “love so well.” Other moms who have utilized the services will stop by and talk and the employees of Guiding Star get to see children who they helped bring into the world every time.
“It’s just a beautiful way that we can really build that relationship,” Van Middendorp said. “Not just help them choose life, but help them choose life for themselves as well. You can just see that beautiful child growing throughout the years. It’s been one of the best parts of my job.”
So, how can you help if you so desire? Van Middendorp said the center is always looking for prayer partners willing to pray for staff, volunteers and every client.
“There is spiritual warfare that comes and hits us,” she said. “Wanting to cover us all with prayer is wonderful.”
Also, the center appreciates donations. There are overhead costs. The average cost for the center to provide all services for free during an unplanned pregnancy is $3,000.
In addition, the center will host its annual fundraiser on March 7 in Sioux Center. Churches also do baby showers for the center so it can offer new baby items, maternity items, diapers, wipes — anything to help ease the financial burden for families.
Finally, a supporter of the center sponsored an ad on a radio station to help raise awareness of Guiding Star Siouxland.
Ultimately, there’s a role for every pro-life person to play in supporting such a center.
“I think a lot of us can be pro-life advocates but have difficulty in figuring out how to not only just advocate verbally but actually be active advocates,” Van Middendorp said. “It’s a great thing that we live in northwest Iowa where we say we’re pro-life, but it’s like when the rubber meets the road, we have to be one to help do the work.”
One more service the center is now able to provide is the abortion reversal pill. It has about a 70 percent effective rate and is offered at Guiding Star Siouxland.
“Nobody has accessed that resource yet, but I’m praying over that service and being able to provide that mom a second chance,” Van Middendorp said.
To learn more about Guiding Star Siouxland, visit their website!
