I serve as the executive director of two pregnancy resource centers, one in Vermont and the other in Massachusetts. But that is not where my story begins. My story begins in darkness.
From the age of 2 until I was 29, I was trafficked in 33 states across this country, which included being bought and sold. I endured abuse, rape, and even attempts on my life. I was addicted to drugs and trapped in a world I believed I would never escape.
Eventually, the abuse became so overwhelming, I tried to end my life. I believed that there was no way out until I unexpectedly found out I was pregnant.
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When my trafficker found out, he wanted $1,500, and because I wasn’t willing to pay it, he wanted me dead. Not only did he want me dead, but the police told me I had to leave California because my family and other traffickers wanted me dead.
I started calling shelters in the four states that the police said I would be safe in, but 27 shelters said they couldn’t take me because my situation was too severe. Finally, with only $1.38 to my name, a domestic violence shelter in New Hampshire took me in.
It was that shelter that connected me with a pregnancy resource center, where I met a woman named Phyllis. She looked at me with compassion and asked five simple words I had not heard in a long time: “How can I help you?”
For years, the only words I had heard were threats, violence, and “lay on your back.” But that day, someone treated me like my life mattered.
She first asked me about my pregnancy. I told her I wanted an abortion. She asked if I wanted an ultrasound. I finally said that, if it was a boy, I would keep the baby, but if it was a girl, I would abort because I didn’t want any girl to go through what I had gone through.
Phyllis then asked me if I knew a man named Jesus Christ. I did not. And I wasn’t sure if he could help me. But I wanted what Phyllis had — an indescribable joy. That day, I gave my life to him. And from that moment on, things began to change.
It was a boy. And that now 11-year-old boy who saved my life is with me today.
At that pregnancy center, I felt something I had never experienced before: hope. And that changed everything. With the support of that center, I began rebuilding my life. I overcame addiction, pursued an education, and eventually earned a degree from Northpoint Bible College.
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As only God could orchestrate, several years later, I became the executive director of a pregnancy center.
Today, I help women who are walking through the same darkness I once lived in: women escaping trafficking, women fleeing abusive relationships, and women who believe abortion is their only option because no one has shown them another way.
When they walk through our doors, we meet them with the same words that changed my life: “How can we help you?” Because pregnancy centers exist for one reason: to provide real help for women who feel out of options.
Every day, we provide pregnancy tests, parenting classes, and the essential items for families, along with assisting women in domestic violence and trafficking situations. And we walk with women not just for a moment, but often for years. I know personally that this changes lives, because I am standing here today as living proof.
But despite this life-saving work, pregnancy centers across the country are facing growing attacks and government efforts to silence them.
In Vermont, the state passed a law targeting pregnancy centers — threatening us with massive fines and restricting our ability to provide information and support to women in need. So, in 2023, I had no choice but to challenge Vermont’s law. After a difficult legal battle, I’m grateful to share that last year, with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, Vermont amended its law to no longer discriminate against centers for offering life-affirming services.
My story proves something that critics often refuse to acknowledge. Pregnancy centers empower women. And sometimes, they literally save women’s lives.
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Today, I am here before you not as a victim, but as a mother, an overcomer, and a leader helping other women rebuild their lives. And I will continue to defend pregnancy centers because somewhere, right now, there is a woman just like I was once — escaping sex trafficking, pregnant, terrified, and wondering if anyone cares whether she lives or dies. Pregnancy centers make sure she hears the words that changed my life: “You are not alone. Your life matters. And there is hope.”
The state should never deny this hope simply because it dislikes a center’s faith or mission. They must be free to serve women and their families without fear of government punishment. To silence these centers is to silence hope.
Jean Marie Davis is the executive director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Vermont.
Editor’s note: This commentary is an excerpt from remarks presented before the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission on March 16, 2026, with minor edits made only for readability.