Jean Marie Davis desires to share the love and good news of Jesus with everyone, especially other women who are in the same situation she faced years ago: pregnant and alone.
If you had told Jean Marie at that time that she would not only be running a pregnancy resource center in Vermont one day but that she would also be suing her state for her center’s right to advertise its services to women, she wouldn’t have believed you.
But because of the Lord’s transforming work in Jean Marie’s life, she’s both a daughter of Christ and a champion for freedom and life.
Since then, the state of Vermont has passed a law that impedes the freedom of pregnancy centers to advertise their services to women. This greatly hinders the work that Jean Marie’s organization, Branches Pregnancy Resource Center, is trying to accomplish by suppressing its free speech rights.
That’s why Jean Marie and two other pregnancy centers are standing for their ability to live and speak according to the truth. Women who are unexpectedly pregnant deserve to know they have life-affirming options, from emotional support to practical resources.
After all, that’s what helped turn Jean Marie’s life around for the better.
Who is Jean Marie Davis?
Jean Marie’s story is a testament to the great God we serve—because as a young child, she faced truly agonizing obstacles.
From her earliest days, she was surrounded by drugs and alcohol, even tasting her first beer at 2 years old. She walked to school alone and made all her own meals—but that was just the beginning of the truly heart-wrenching treatment she received. She was also beaten and molested by family and friends, the very people who should have protected her.
Jean Marie was constantly told she was fat and ugly, and by the time she turned 12, she began to be trafficked. So, when she was thrown out of her home as a teen, she fell easily into prostitution and addiction, and the cycle of abuse continued.
Every day, Jean Marie faced threats to her life. She was trafficked for almost 10 years in 33 states, all while suffering countless rapes and becoming addicted to drugs.
“That life is a chaos life,” Jean Marie says. “They keep you in this state where … you’re mentally unstable. I was losing myself.”
So, when she found out she was pregnant near the age of 30, she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. When one of the five traffickers she worked for found out she was pregnant, he made very real threats to kill her. And she ran out of town.
God transforms Jean Marie’s life
Jean Marie found a women’s domestic violence shelter in New Hampshire, and the director of the shelter paid for her flight to get there after hearing Jean Marie’s story.
She stayed in the shelter and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, wondering what step she should take next. When she began considering abortion, staff at the shelter suggested that Jean Marie meet with a counselor at a nearby pregnancy resource center.
“She was so hurting. Just…lost,” remembers Phyllis Phelps, then a counselor at the center, now executive director of House of Hope New Hampshire women’s program. When Jean told Phyllis her story, she was met with the greatest news she would ever hear: “I can’t heal all those things that you’re going through. But I know a Man named Jesus who can help you.”
They prayed together, and Christ transformed Jean Marie’s life and soul.
Phyllis encouraged Jean Marie to enroll in a program that had also helped her years before, and soon Jean Marie was learning how to cook, clean, iron, and even how to read and write.
During this time, Jean Marie also immersed herself in the Bible.
“I read it cover to cover in eight months,” she says. “The Scripture says, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good.’ Well, I needed to know who this Man was that I was trying out.”
She gave birth to a son, Jonah, now 10 years old, and she found work in the human resources department of a local hospital. But Jean Marie felt a sure call to ministry that wouldn’t go away, and one day, Phyllis encouraged her to apply as the director of a nearby pregnancy resource center—Branches.
Jean Marie’s work at Branches Pregnancy Resource Center
At first, Jean Marie turned Phyllis down—she wasn’t qualified, she insisted. But Phyllis thought otherwise.
“I just felt like that place needed some life,” Phyllis says now, looking back. “And Jean is full of life. I knew she would reach out to the community. She has a heartbeat for the lost. She has a prayer life and three years of Bible college behind her. And she has a heart to help other women. I knew God would equip her with what she needed.”
Thankfully, the board at Branches agreed, and Branches’ ministry has thrived under Jean Marie’s leadership.
A pregnancy center that once drew mostly high school girls and college coeds now draws prostitutes, drug dealers, and trafficked women like Jean Marie. “We’re sharing the Gospel in so many different ways now … but at the same time, we’re saving babies’ lives,” says Jean Marie.
“Jean Marie’s reached out into the community, and she’s brought a lot of people together,” Phyllis says. “She’s gained support, and she’s gained clients. She’s brought a lot of life.”
Branches Pregnancy Resource Center faces government opposition
Around the same time that Jean Marie became the director of Branches, the state of Vermont passed a law that threatens centers like hers. If centers in the state advertise in a way that Vermont’s pro-abortion attorney general deems misleading, she’ll fine the center up to $10,000—a fine that would cripple Branches.
“We don’t force anything on women,” Jean Marie says. “I don’t care what you believe in. If you need help, we’re here to help you. Our focus is resources.”
Branches provides women with resources they need, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They locate and provide food, clothing, diapers, baby toys, high chairs, and parent training classes, along with support groups for those addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Vermont’s law reflects a growing trend of attacks on pregnancy centers around the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the statute violates the free-speech rights of pregnancy centers in the state. That’s why Branches has joined two other Vermont pregnancy care centers in a lawsuit to challenge the unjust law.
“Working with ADF has challenged me to see how much God can move,” Jean Marie says. “This is a case that can go either way. We have to trust in Jesus. And for me, this is personal. If it wasn’t for Phyllis and the pregnancy center, I’d be dead. And if it wasn’t for ADF, I wouldn’t have this chance to tell my story.”
“Actually,” says Jean Marie, “it’s not my story. It’s God’s story.”
Showing compassion to others in need
Jean Marie’s story of redemption was made possible because she was surrounded by people who had the freedom to live and speak the truth in her life. And she was able to transform her life and support her son through the option of life that was made available to her through a pregnancy resource center.
This is why we stand for freedom: because the right to live and speak the truth changes hearts and minds. And speaking the truth to others is a way we can witness to the love of Christ.
Now, through the generosity of our Ministry Friends, Jean Marie and Branches can stand for their right to show this same love to more women in need.
Will you give today to help defend the rights of Jean Marie and other pro-life pregnancy resource centers?
