Gideon Spevak:
In June 2022, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly introduced the Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) program to offer financial and material support to pregnancy care centres and other pregnancy support organizations in the United States and Canada. This program was introduced by the Knights of Columbus after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson that overturned Roe v. Wade, the pro-abortion legal precedent that stood for 49 years.For every $500 that an individual council donates to a non-profit pregnancy support organization such as a pregnancy care centre, maternity home, or groups like the Sisters of Life, Supreme will donate $100, up to $400 for any individual council’s donation of $2000. The program has raised over US$5 million so far in just two years since its launch.
When announcing the program, Supreme Knight Kelly stated that “pregnancy resource centers will take center stage in the struggle for life,” and that “In a post-Roe world, we need to be there for mothers and children. They will need our help more than ever — so let’s make the ASAP program a top priority.”
This is one of the many efforts that the Knights of Columbus has taken to contribute to the prolife, pro-family cause. In 2009, the Knights started a program aiming to donate and install ultrasound machines in pregnancy care centres, as mothers who hear their child’s heartbeat on an ultrasound are twice as likely to choose life. Supreme also donates money to many marches for life on both national and state/provincial levels, including the National March for Life.
In recent year, 144 Councils in Canada have given financial or material support to 101 pregnancy
resource centres and maternity homes across Canada. In total, $301,000 has been donated andSupreme in New Haven, Conn., has donated a further $49,000.
The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization, founded in New Haven, in 1882 by Blessed Michael McGivney. The cause for Fr. McGivney’s canonization began in 1996. Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable in 2008, and Pope Francis approved his beatification in 2020 after a miracle involving the healing of a preborn child given no chance of survival by doctors in 2015.
