CareNet Pregnancy Center of Dane County invited Christina Bennett to come from her home in Connecticut to Madison to talk about her Pro-Life activism. They almost got a new employee.
“If I lived here I would be begging you for a job,” she told the 400-500 people gathered November 12, 2024 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. She had visited Care Net’s Elizabeth House maternity home earlier in the day.
Fifteen pregnant, homeless women were hosted by Elizabeth House this past year. But three times that many could have been helped if there was more room. To that end, Care Net announced that another Elizabeth House is going to be opening in the eastern Dane County village of Marshall soon. Further details will be released in an Open House at Elizabeth House on December 6.
All services that CareNet offers are free. The annual November banquet, one of the major fundraising events of the year, brings together one of the most ecumenical religious gatherings that Madison sees, with many Protestant and Catholic congregations represented.
“So many different churches involved and we’ve all come here to glorify God with joyful Thanksgiving for the lives saved,” said Sara Patterson, CareNet CEO. “We are here to share God’s love with hurting people. This is a role uniquely suited for God’s people.”
She said that CareNet is reaching more women than we have ever before in their 40 year history. More than 68 “life choices in 2024” are recorded on CareNet’s website.
CareNet’s Form 990 reports that their mission is “to provide physical, emotional and spiritual resources to those who may face unexpected pregnancy by modeling Christ to all we serve.” Their gross receipts for 2023 was reported as $ 1,930,075. They offer additional services beyond Elizabeth House, as reported on their website.
Christina Bennett’s prolife career began after she learned, in her twenties, that her mom intended to abort her at the direction of her father. A janitor in a hospital hallway noticed her tears and asked her mother if she wanted to have this baby. As she relates on her website, God gave her mother the strength to walk out of the abortionist’s office.
“Something deep inside of her wanted me,” Bennett said. After that discovery, and after graduating from college, she decided “this issue is the most important of this day,” and moved to Washington DC to join Pro-Life protests in front of the US Supreme Court. She now works as Live Action News correspondent and Client Services Manager for a Connecticut pregnancy resource center. She is also a licensed Christian minister.
Noting that 10 states had abortion questions on their ballots in this month’s election and that $5 million was spent on TV ads, she commented, “It shows how much the economy depends on women taking the lives of their children.” In Connecticut, she said, 70 percent of abortions are paid for by the government. “That’s not health care, that’s offering death.”
Reflecting on her visit to Elizabeth House, she said, “I had to hold back my tears. For so long I dreamed of something like this for women who would say, ‘I don’t have any place to go.’ This is the wave of the future.”