Kathy Sparks Lesnoff

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pregnancy care centers around the country have been targeted.

They’ve been vandalized, firebombed, and threatened. Unfortunately, some state governments have passed laws impeding their ability to help pregnant women and their children.  

And Mosaic Pregnancy & Health Center in Illinois is no different.

In 2016, the state enacted an amendment that forces pro-life doctors and pregnancy centers to refer for abortions, regardless of their moral objections. It would force pro-life individuals to lie to women and tell them about the so-called benefits of abortion.

No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions—including pro-life pregnancy centers. That’s why Kathy Sparks Lesnoff, the founder of Mosaic Health, is challenging her state’s unjust law.

Who is Kathy Sparks Lesnoff?

Before Kathy founded and led Mosaic Health, her life was marked with difficulty and tragedy.

When she was still in her early 20s, she faced hardships that felt insurmountable.

Her beloved father had died, her marriage seemed hopeless, she was buried in debt, and she had a 2-month-old baby girl to care for. She wanted to give up. But in a moment when she felt hopeless, the Lord brought her mother-in-law to mind.

She was a godly woman, and Kathy knew she would offer a listening ear. Kathy called her in desperation, and her mother-in-law invited her over that night. Soon after, Kathy gave her life to Christ—and her life was transformed. “I was so free!” Kathy describes. “The heaviness of sin just completely lifted off my heart. And I was happy.”

It wasn’t long before Kathy’s husband, Mike, also gave his life to Christ after his mother gave him a Bible. Their marriage, now between two believers, began to change and heal.

But one thing in Kathy’s life at that point had not yet changed—she was still cheerfully working at a local abortion facility.

A change of heart

In college, Kathy had been influenced by the growing women’s liberation movement and abandoned the pro-life convictions she once held. “I just immersed myself in the pro-abortion culture,” she says of that time. “Embraced it. I bought the lie.”

Once she started facing the demands and costs of everyday life in college, she was content to take a well-paying job at a local abortion facility. After all, she and Mike had debt to pay off, and she sincerely believed that she was helping people in need.

Still, some aspects of Kathy’s job were troubling to her—such as the disposal of the babies’ bodies and the manipulation tactics used to convince women to get abortions.

“Money was a huge driving factor,” Kathy recalls of her time at the facility. “We didn’t want one of three things to happen.” The first being that a woman might get her abortion somewhere else. “Second, we didn’t want her to change her mind,” and third, “we didn’t want her parents finding out and changing her mind for her.”

It wasn’t until three months after Kathy was saved that her eyes were opened to the truth. She and her husband were convicted by their lukewarm faith after reading a passage in Revelation together. And the very next day, Kathy’s experience at her job seemed completely different.

“[I]t was a day-and-night difference,” she says. “Freezing cold. A horrible smell throughout the building—and no one else could smell it.” Then, one of her first patients that morning was much further along in her pregnancy—about 23 weeks along. “Suddenly, not only did I know that was a baby, but I knew I was killing babies, and it didn’t matter if they were six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks—it didn’t matter. They were all babies.”

Kathy began weeping after the abortion. And the very next day, she quit her job.

“I said, ‘I have become a Christian, and this is my last day here.’”

Kathy’s life-saving work

In the time after Kathy left her job, she and Mike continued faithfully attending church, and their faith, as well as their marriage, grew and strengthened. They also welcomed four more children into their family.

But for all the time that passed, Kathy was still haunted by the guilt and memories of those months working at the abortion facility. “I had a lot of shame,” she says. “I repented of all of it, but I just couldn’t talk about it.” Until one day, a friend reminded Kathy that Christ had covered not most, but all of her sins—and Kathy began to let go of her past.

Then Mike awoke one morning and said he had dreamed that they were going to be involved in a pregnancy center ministry. Kathy hadn’t even heard of such a ministry. But after she appeared on a talk radio show to share her experience working at an abortion facility, the ministry vision became more defined … and Mosaic Pregnancy & Health Centers was born.

Headquartered in Granite City, Illinois, the clinic offers no-cost pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, STI treatment and testing, post-abortion counseling, adoption referrals, and so much more.

Over the past 34 years, Kathy and her team have served more than 20,000 clients.

“Our clients are all very different from each other in terms of who they are and what’s gone on in their lives,” says Kathy. “They’re hurting, mostly overwhelmed, coming from pain—some out of great pain—and then God gives them the gift of a baby. To see God put together all those pieces to form this beautiful picture in their life … we just thought, ‘Mosaic.’”

“When we began the ministry,” she says, “we had two desires. One, that babies wouldn’t be aborted. Two, that we could share the Gospel and people would come to Christ. When you have the opportunity to lead someone into eternity, to have that personal relationship with Jesus, it’s unbelievably exciting. Then, when they choose life for their unborn babies … I love it. Love it!”

Mosaic Health is threatened

Unfortunately, however, Mosaic faces some of the most pro-abortion laws in the country in Illinois.

In 2016, abortion activists created a new law (SB 1564) that requires all medical professionals, no matter their personal convictions, to explain the purported benefits of abortion, and if a patient shows interest, they must provide her with a list of local abortionists.

“It’s a violation of and attack on our freedom of speech,” says Kathy about the law. “We’d be mandated to provide the benefits from the abortion procedure. And there are no benefits to the abortion procedures. Abortion harms women. In essence, they’re going to mandate that we lie to our clients. And we would never do that.”

“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The government can’t compel medical professionals to choose between violating the law and violating the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. Illinois’s law targets pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors specifically because they conscientiously object to abortion.”

Thankfully, in 2017, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys secured an injunction in the lawsuit that temporarily keeps state officials from enforcing the law while the suit continues. And in 2018, ADF won a related case at the U.S. Supreme Court defending the rights of pregnancy centers in California after the state tried to force them to promote abortion.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that California’s law “is a paradigmatic example of the serious threat presented when government seeks to impose its own message in the place of individual speech, thought, and expression.”

Kathy’s stand for life continues

Despite these victories in the courts, Kathy’s case continues to inch its way through the judicial process.

“I didn’t know how long it was going to take for this to happen,” Kathy says. “But it didn’t matter. If it’s the last thing I do as president and CEO of this ministry, I will see this out to the end. We have the best legal team in the United States. I love Alliance Defending Freedom! I’ve come to understand the tremendous impact that they’re having in many areas—not just the life issue.”

When Kathy looks back on her life, she sees it as being a picture of God’s beautiful redemptive plan. “My life really is Romans 8:28. God uses all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. He’s used that horrible time in my life for my good and ultimately, even now, to His glory.”

Will you give today to help defend the rights of Kathy Spark Lesnoff and Mosaic Health as well as other pregnancy centers? None of our clients pay a dime for representation in court, thanks to the generosity of our Ministry Friends.