What’s new at Troy Sav-a-Life? “Where do I start?” said Jane Ward, executive director.

The center has launched a new service to offer a free ultrasound to women with an unexpected pregnancy.

“When a client has a pregnancy test positive and there’s an issue of whether to continue the pregnancy or not, one of the things that helps is to have an ultrasound,” Ward said. “She gets to see that the baby has a heartbeat. That is the only purpose for the ultrasounds; we’re not taking the place of local obstetricians at all. We only do this once and then encourage them to connect with an OBGYN.”

Ward said in order to be eligible for a free ultrasound, women must test positive for pregnancy at the center and then make an appointment for the ultrasound.

Malloree Prescott, new nurse manager at the center, said seeing the ultrasound is a major factor for women deciding whether to keep their children.

“For us, it is statistically proven that 8 of 10 abortion-minded women will change their mind if they can see their baby,” Prescot said. “They can see it is a baby, it is a life; that it has a heartbeat … it makes it real.”

The ultrasound service is part of the center’s “medical conversion,” the first time it has been able to offer medical services.

“Medical pregnancy centers nothing new; it’s new for us, but there are medical pregnancy centers all over the country others in Alabama have been medical for years,” Ward said. “It’s not a new concept. It’s just a richer experience for our clients.”

In addition to adding the medical service, the pregnancy resource center has undergone a nearly complete renovation, including the construction of a new classroom space for pregnant and parenting women and a medical area.

“We changed the layout of the center in order to use our space more productively,” Ward said. “Instead of just two counseling rooms we have three and a medical area nurses can also use as counseling area if they need to.”

The new classroom space will provide much-needed privacy, Ward said.

“This offers more privacy to our pregnancy test client,” Ward said. “Not everybody wants others to know they are taking classes. Now they can come directly into the classroom in the rear without ever entering the building. It’s a great privacy measure for the women that are really concerned about needing our services, and it allows us to give them as much confidentiality and sensitivity as we can offer them.”

All of the services offered by the center are free of charge, including their “FLEEC” classroom training for prenatal and parenting women, pregnancy tests, the ultrasounds and lay counseling.

The center is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The building is located at 523 S. Three Notch St. To contact the center, call 566-2880.