Jean Marie Davis was pregnant, homeless, and had $1.38 to her name.
A victim of trafficking, Davis was addicted to drugs and trapped in a life that was seemingly inescapable. The abuse was so overwhelming that she once tried to take her own life. She sought refuge by calling 27 shelters but was denied each time. “They said my situation was too severe,” Davis recalled. However, in her darkest moment, a domestic violence shelter in New Hampshire took her in and connected her with a local pregnancy resource center. At the pregnancy center, she met Phyllis Phelps, a client services manager. “For years, the only words I had heard were threats, violence, and exploitation. But that day, someone treated me like my life mattered,” Davis said. She was intent on having an abortion, but her heart softened after she gave her life to Jesus Christ.
“At that pregnancy resource center, I felt something I had never experienced before: hope.”
Today, she is the proud mom of an 11-year-old boy and serves as the executive director of the Branches Family Resource Center in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Brattleboro, Vermont. Branches is part of Care Net’s network of 1,200 pregnancy centers nationwide.
On March 16, 2026, Davis shared her incredible testimony of transformation at the sixth hearing of the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission in Washington, D.C., where she offered a firsthand example of the impact faith-based pregnancy centers can have on women facing extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Created by President Donald Trump in 2025, the Religious Liberty Commission was tasked with examining threats to religious freedom and recommending ways to strengthen federal protections. The March hearing focused specifically on healthcare, seeking to identify religious liberty and conscience concerns facing medical professionals, faith-based organizations and social service providers. Davis has become a vocal defender of pregnancy resource centers as they have faced criticism and government scrutiny across the country in the years following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. The issue has been especially personal in Vermont, where Branches joined other pregnancy centers in challenging a 2023 state law they argued unfairly targeted their advertising and services; Vermont amended the law in 2025, and the lawsuit was subsequently dismissed. As she testified before the commission, Davis drew on her experience as both a former client and a director to explain why she believes pregnancy centers should be protected.
“My story proves something that critics often refuse to acknowledge: pregnancy centers empower women. And sometimes, they literally save women’s lives. I know that because one saved mine,” she said.
“Today, I sit 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 they represent something our world desperately needs more of: compassion, truth, and hope.” While Davis leads centers serving women and families facing unexpected pregnancies, her own experience as a trafficking survivor has also driven her to expand support for women escaping that kind of exploitation and abuse. In a recent article in the Bennington Banner, Davis said its common for women being trafficked to be forced into having an abortion. She told the publication that she envisions creating a nationwide network of safe houses where trafficking victims can find refuge while connecting with services that can help them rebuild their lives. She is exploring expansion into Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, with a model that would bring safe housing and family resources together to provide more comprehensive support.
At the Religious Liberty Commission hearing, Davis not only shared her amazing story but also spoke with urgency about the importance of pregnancy centers and the vulnerable women they serve.
“Because somewhere right now, there is a woman just like I once was—escaping 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.’”
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