Center next to Planned Parenthood helps women embrace motherhood

For the second time in four years, Napa Women’s Center has found itself a neighbor to Planned Parenthood. While the initial location was intentional, staff say that the recent moves of both organizations made them second-time neighbors purely by coincidence.

Napa Women’s Center is a pregnancy resource center located in Napa, California. As the site explains, it is “a nonprofit organization that seeks to meet the needs of women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy through free and confidential pregnancy resources” with a mission “to empower women and men to make well-informed decisions regarding an unplanned pregnancy.”

Julie Murillo, executive director of Napa Women’s Center, says that she is passionate about helping moms in crisis pregnancies because she was once in their shoes. She explains:

I could either have an abortion and continue that career path or drop out of college and raise the baby. Those were the only two choices that I considered. I wasn’t sure what my boyfriend would say when he found out, so I was undecided as to what to do. He was excited and wanted to get married and raise the baby. We decided to get married and raise the baby together. We raised three children, who are now awesome adults, and we have been married for 40 years. Sometimes life takes crazy turns that you did not see coming but that doesn’t mean that it can’t still be a wonderful life.

And she wants other moms to see that they too can have wonderful lives, even if it’s not the life they had originally planned. This is why Napa Women’s Center works daily to help women see the value of the babies they are carrying.

Beginnings

Napa Women’s Center opened its doors in January 2020. They moved into the building right next door to Planned Parenthood so they could reach abortive-minded mothers at a time when they were the most frightened and were about to make a decision they could never take back. Staff wanted to help mothers see that they had another choice—one that could lead to countless blessings.

Julie explains that this strategy has worked, as the women’s center has helped numerous women who left Planned Parenthood and walked next door to learn how to manage their surprise pregnancy.

However, as a KPIX news report explains, Planned Parenthood was not happy that the women’s center moved in next door. In the report, Gilda Gonzales, president of Planned Parenthood Northern California, addresses the fact that there were regular protests outside the clinic, and she seems to blame the Napa Women’s Center, though the pro-life pregnancy resource center has nothing to do with organizing the pro-lifers who routinely protest outside PP. According to Gonzales, it “became . . . untenable to be there.”

So, in January 2023, Planned Parenthood moved to a new location less than two miles away.

But Planned Parenthood had not seen the last of Napa Women’s Center. Napa wanted to expand so that it could offer more services, including free ultrasounds, to women. Because they could not offer ultrasounds at their original location, they knew they had to move.

And when they found a new office space that would give them ultrasound capabilities, they took it. Julie explains, “God opened the door for us to move to a vacant medical office that had previously been an OB/GYN office. We had not been looking for it, but we are happy to be here in this new office.”

It just so happened that this was in a building downstairs from Planned Parenthood’s new location.

In September 2024, Napa moved to this new 1,200-square-foot office space and prepared to assist more women.

Expanded services

Julie and the staff at Napa are excited about the new facility, as it will allow them to help more women in greater ways. They know that, statistically, most women who see their babies on ultrasounds choose life for them. In fact, according to Heartbeat International, “80% of women considering an abortion choose life when they see an ultrasound.”

Showing mothers the humanity of the tiny baby inside them is a powerful way to help them choose life.

Though Napa has not yet begun offering ultrasounds, as it is awaiting its medical license from the California Department of Health, staff cannot wait to “introduce” moms to their preborn babies via this technology.

Napa Women’s Center currently offers free pregnancy tests, a video series on fetal development, referrals to local resources, advocate support options, pregnancy education, diapers, baby items and clothes, information on abortion pill reversal, and more. Julie explained that they support many moms every month who need diapers, clothing, and other baby items and that the center is hoping to offer classes for fathers in the future.

The staff at the women’s center believes that their new capabilities will draw more women and will help both moms and dads see the value of their babies as they come to understand that they are competent, strong, and well equipped to raise a child.

As Julie said, “Napa Women’s Center is here to support women and men experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. We are here to support families and help them to find all the resources that they need.”

And each day, understanding the immense value of every mom and baby they save, the staff at the women’s center works diligently toward this goal.