About Us
Mountain Area Pregnancy Services (MAPS), previously Asheville Pregnancy Support Services, provides compassionate care to women and men dealing with all the issues surrounding an at risk pregnancy. Our client advocates are specially trained to deal with these distinctive problems.For those facing the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy we meet them at their POINT OF CRISIS. The impact goes beyond just the man and the woman but can extend to family, friends and others. An unplanned pregnancy is often an unwanted pregnancy and abortion seems like the "right choice."
Nearly half of all women of childbearing age will have an abortion in her lifetime-
with facts like these we are not only dealing with lives in crisis but a culture in crisis.
Our education program supports parents, teens, student pastors and educators to help students excel beyond the influence of today's culture. Our goal is to equip them with the necessary information and tools to flourish in relationships and as leaders. When teens embrace this vision they make choices that promote their spiritual, mental and physical health that includes saving sexual activity for marriage.
In addition to pregnancy care and education, MAPS offers grief care services for those who have lost a child due to miscarriage, still birth, newborn death, or abortion. Support services are also provided to those families facing a devastating diagnosis for their child. For the 20-33% of families who do choose to continue the pregnancy in face of this life altering news it can be a long and very discouraging journey. MAPS offers a pathway through this grief with HOPE!
Our Mission
To be a relevant Christ-centered outreach ministry partnering with the churches of WNC by caring for, counseling and educating women and men regarding, or impacted by, and at risk pregnancy.
Our History
In 1981, originally formed as Birth Right, we began providing compassionate care to women and men dealing with all the issues surrounding an unplanned pregnancy. In 1984 our name changed to Asheville Pregnancy Support Services. The early years were times of struggle with changing leadership and very limited funding. By 2000, the organization had grown and stabilized enough to add a full time director.
- 2003: held our first Gala to raise funds and to begin building the solid donor base needed to support a Medical Clinic.
- 2003: APSS expanded the ministry to offer the Forgiven and Set Free study for women wounded from the choice of abortion in the past
- 2005: the board restructured the organization, hired a CEO, a Director of Client Services and Clinic Director. With the leadership team in place the foundation was set to "go medical."
- 2006: ultrasound clinic opened in December.
- 2013: APSS purchased a building and moved to our new location at 1710 Old Haywood Road.
- 2013: APSS opened an ultrasound clinic at the Tri-County Pregnancy Center in Burnsville, NC. This first of a kind partnership has two independent pregnancy centers under one roof, working in cooperation with each other, to provide ultrasound services which otherwise would not be possible.
- 2014: On August 5, 2014 APSS opened a satellite pregnancy center in Mars Hill, NC, adjacent to Mars Hill University, and serving North Buncombe and Madison counties.
- 2015: APSS launched a new ministry called Eva's Footprints ministering to families who face a devastating diagnosis for their child. We walk with families through all stages of the grief cycle. The Director of Grief Care was hired in July of 2015 to manage the Eva's Footprints, Pregnancy Loss and the Abortion Recovery ministries.
- 2015: APSS opened another ultrasound clinic in partnership with the McDowell Pregnancy Care Center in Marion, NC. Like the center in Burnsville, this partnership has two independent pregnancy centers under one roof; working in cooperation with each other, to provide ultrasound services which otherwise would not be possible in the McDowell County area.
- 2016: Effective January 1 APSS became MAPS - Mountain Area Pregnancy Services. The expanded name reflects the expanded outreach to other areas in Western North Carolina.