Nearly 250 guests, some from Pensacola, Florida, and as far away as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, arrived Friday, May 9, 2008, to celebrate the newly announced Claire's Hope. The crowd anxiously awaited the unveiling of what Claire's Hope will actually do with a former abortion clinic.

 

Daniel Johnson, Campus Minister, of McGill-Toolen set the tone when he said, "God is Good!" He thanked the new building owners, Billy and Tammy Cox for allowing the beautiful life of their daughter, Claire, to inspire them to raise awareness and to educate.

 

Jennifer Lopes, Executive Director of Claire's Hope then approached the podium to share the vision of Billy and Tammy. The guests listened intently, some hidden under the tent, others taking in the hot sun. Lopes plans to work with local community and leaders to create a place that will give the facts about abortion, abortion alternatives, and adoption placement. One former "procedure room" in the building will be transformed into a "live birth room" replete with a birth table, a warming bed, a fetal heart monitor, and a sonogram machine. The room will also have a flat screen television with a documentary produced by Adoption Rocks, an adoption awareness group, located in Mobile, Alabama. The film features a birth mom who chose to place her child for adoption and her reasons why.

 

Another room once used for abortions, still laden with stains on the floor, will be left "as is." This museum-type room will be re-equipped with the tools of the abortion industry. This will include an exam table, a suction machine, and a documentary of a detailed abortion procedure.

 

Inside the walls of where thirty years worth of reproductive choice reigned, there will be a chapel and a wall of forgiveness. This wall will be a safe place for men and woman to properly and safely memorialize their lost child or children. One memorial already inside read, "Some women hold a son. I now hold my "choice." I am sorry." It is proven that most women feel shame, regret, depression, and guilt for many years after having an abortion, Lopes states. It is Claire's Hope and it's Founders dream that those seeking healing and forgiveness will come.

 

Father Bry Shields and Reverend Terry Ellis rounded out the ecumenical service in the parking lot where protesters and prayer partners had so faithfully stood for so many years. Father Shields sprinkled the property with Holy Water, inside and out, as Reverend Ellis let a liturgy asking God to bring life where there was once death. To bring blessings where there was once curses. To bring light where there was once darkness. At each petition the crowd responded, "Lord you are the Giver of Life, Amen."

 

The invitation was then extended to each person to enter the building for a tour. Once inside each guest was given a flower by Claire's siblings. By the end of the procession the abortion room floors were covered in colorful flowers as a memorial and as a representation of each one's prayers

 

The young and the old were tear-filled as they visited the once, "recovery room" of the abortion clinic that is now being turned into a memorial. They read the accounts and letters from moms who aborted their babies and are now sorry. The moms attached their letters to baby shoes and are now on display in that room. The same room where they were once left alone, scared and hurting.

 

The smell of fresh flowers somehow brought a hint of refreshing "HOPE" of what is to come to this building. An ornately framed portrait of Claire Hope Cox will be among the first articles commissioned to the building. It is, indeed, her memory to be honored through this project. Plans are now under way to renovate and restore what is now called "Hope's Corner." Tours, educational fairs, and more will be available to the public in the near future. As Heather Colsen, a post abortive woman, so bravely stated at the dedication service, "Let us not grow lax in our attempts to seek more opportunities to uphold the sanctity of human life. But, let us rejoice - today, in this victory, and this land being redeemed for good and for hope."