Lord, show me some way to help this woman bring her baby to birth," Mary prayed silently, as she listened to Elizabeth pour out her story.

The situation seemed impossible. But then, Mary Cunningham Agee specializes in the impossible. Elizabeth’s pregnancy would cost her the dream she and her family had worked toward for so long—a college education. Elizabeth had a full basketball scholarship at a state university, where she was a junior. If she couldn’t play, she’d lose the money. If she lost the money, there was no college. Without college, she had no future as a teacher. Her father earned too much to qualify for sufficient financial aid, but not enough to put her through school.

Elizabeth had everything to lose by continuing her pregnancy. But then she heard about the Nurturing Network, Mary Cunningham Agee’s nationwide support system dedicated to helping women continue crisis pregnancies.

"Elizabeth came to us in desperation," Mary remembers. "The thought of abortion repulsed her, but she felt she had no other choice. Not only would she lose her scholarship, but she wouldn’t even be allowed to stay in her dorm. And her boyfriend deserted her. These kinds of pressures have too often led women to consider abortion."

"Hers was a tough case," Mary continues. "Then I remembered a conversation I’d had with my husband about ‘Red Shirting’ in basketball. In college, male basketball players are injured all the time, but they’re allowed to sit out until they recuperate, while still keeping their scholarships."

Bingo! That was the answer. Mary called Elizabeth’s dean, who agreed to treat the pregnancy like a Red Shirting disability. Elizabeth stayed in school and Mary found a supportive family nearby where she could live. Elizabeth is now the happy mother of a baby girl, whom her parents are helping to raise.

The Nurturing Network was born from the tears Mary Cunningham Agee shed for a baby she lost to miscarriage in 1984.

"I thought about the woman who loses her baby to abortion because she feels there is no other way," she says. "If my sadness over the loss of my unborn child was so great, what must hers be like?"

For two years Mary researched abortion. Who chooses abortion and why? The answers were surprising. Statistics don’t necessarily point to the impoverished teen. Instead, 42% of all women who abort are middle-class, between the ages of 20 and 26, and have earned at least a high school diploma. They attend college or have recently entered the job market. The women are achievers—the college professors, doctors, homemakers, and businesswomen of tomorrow. "Over 90% of the women I interviewed said they felt extreme pressure to abort from their boyfriends, parents, employers, or peers," explains Mary. "Many suffered discrimination in their workplaces or colleges— to the point of being asked to leave with phony excuses for the sudden dismissal. They didn’t choose abortion glibly. These women said they would have chosen birth if a program like ours had existed."

"We assume that the middle class can take care of itself. If a woman can afford to go to college and make her way in the world, she can deal with a crisis pregnancy. But statistics tell a different story."

"To ask a 24-year-old or a 38-year-old woman to live in a home for unwed mothers is just not realistic," notes Mary. "To make her fill out Medicaid forms if she wants to have her baby tells her she’s got a choice between being successful in her own right and being a welfare mother. No woman should have to make that kind of choice."

The Nurturing Network responds to each woman who asks for help. Clients have ranged in age from 18 to 43. They come from all walks of life. They are copywriters, bank tellers, artists, and doctors—even the president of a venture capital company.

Mary and her husband, William Agee, founded the nurturing Network in Massachusetts in 1986 and recently relocated it to Boise, Idaho. Mary coordinates the growing network of doctors, nurses, counselors, social workers, business people, college administrators, and friends who volunteer time, services, money, and their homes to help women continue their pregnancies. Over 1,000 women have been nurtured so far, free of charge.

Once a member of the top management of both the Bendix Corporation and Seagram’s, Mary used to make million-dollar deals. Now she works without salary. Why?

"Because I believe it’s my duty to nurture life," she explains. "Our Catholic faith teaches us that God is Life, and that life is valuable because we are created in the image of God. But all around us women are sacrificing the unborn because they’re afraid no one will help them.

"I choose, along with our Network friends and volunteers, to help these mothers. Isn’t that what Christ would do?"

Thanks to private and corporate support, the Network has never had to turn a woman away.

Lydia was one of the Network’s first clients. A successful businesswoman, single, and in her mid 30s, she was in line for a partnership with a top consulting firm. A crisis pregnancy would destroy her credibility with both her firm and her clients.

"Lydia asked us to help keep her career on track while she carried the baby to term," Mary remembers. "Could I find her a temporary transfer that would sound credible to her superiors and future employers?"

Mary found such a job in a small town 3,000 miles away. Lydia took a leave of absence and relocated. Her privacy was protected and she benefited professionally from the challenges of her new position.

After months of agonizing, alone and with Network counselors, Lydia decided she could not provide the home her baby needed. She chose adoption, as do 30% of the mothers Network helps.

If a woman chooses otherwise, support doesn’t end at birth. A woman who keeps her baby may need guidance as she deals with the social or economic pressures of single parenthood. The Nurturing Network is committed to providing services for as long as needed.

But what about the problem pregnancy? What if a Client relocates to a new job in a new city and then finds her health won’t allow her to work?

"We’ve had these situations," says Mary. "We support the woman in whatever way she needs. One Client, whom we placed in a new job with a major law firm and a nurturing home, developed a high-risk pregnancy where miscarriage was probable if she continued working. Her doctor ordered total bed rest.

"The nurturing family was behind her all the way. They brought her meals in bed, where she spent the rest of her pregnancy. And our Network was able to help financially with the additional medical care."

Friends of the Network are recruited mainly by word of mouth. As the Network expands nationwide, many Fortune 500 companies and top academic institutions are joining in. Network alumnae are returning the favor and offering to help other women. Often they act as employment sources, counselors, or nurturing families.

Crisis pregnancy can happen to the best and the brightest. It can happen to your daughter, your best friend’s daughter, your college roommate, or a colleague at work. We need to move beyond stereotypes, Mary believes, and see with the compassion of Christ.

"How can we say we believe in Christ’s mercy if we sit in judgment and refuse to help?" Mary asks.

"I’ve heard people say that these women don’t deserve help because they’ve sinned. My answer is ‘Where is your witness to Christ’s forgiveness and mercy if you condemn this woman? Where is your witness to the value of life if you deprive her of the chance to give birth?’"

Mary herself is now the mother of two small children, Mary Alana and William Nolan, named for Mary’s uncle, Monsignor William Nolan. The Agees also are partners in their own venture capital company, Semper Enterprises, Inc., which has helped to fund the Nurturing Network. Mary is dedicated to the work of the Nurturing Network. The long hours, the traveling, the fundraising, none of this fates her. She considers it an honor to work with and help these strong women who have taken the path less chosen.